Beneath the Veil
by mOOn-stArs-sUn
Summary: When Toothiana has to leave the faerie realm in search for criminals, she is not aware of the underground rebellion led by Pitch. Meeting an untrustworthy faerie, Jack Frost, sends her into a dangerous, dark world she doesn't wish to be a part of. Faerie AU.
1. Welcome to New York City

**_A/N: Hi! Welcome to my story. This is an idea I've been wanting to do for a while now, and this first chapter has finally been beta edited by deviantArt user eyecandyco (thank you, thank you, thank you!) This chapter is short, but that's just because it's the introduction. I hope you enjoy them in the faerie realm and any civilized comments are appreciated! :]_**

**_DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters created by William Joyce and DreamWorks._**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Welcome to New York City**

**_"Like a man who has been dying for many days, a man in your city is numb to the stench." –Chief Seatle_**

"A _what_?" Toothiana asked, her mouth hanging open in shock and sheer panic. She couldn't have heard him right. This was madness.

"Trip to mortal realm," North repeated slowly, not quite understanding his friend's look of terror. "We've been many times. Why so worried?"

"I'm not worried about going to the mortal realm," she said hurriedly, smoothing back her hair. "I'm more worried about _where."_

"I do not understand."

"North, they asked us to go to New York City, in the United States." She fluttered around him, feet not touching the ground in her anxiety. "You know the reputation that has, right? The fey call it Ironside, the Poison City, Faerie Killer, and—"

"And there are fey who call it home," he interrupted sternly. Then his expression softened as he placed a sturdy hand on Tooth's small shoulder. He smiled. "Do not worry. Is simple checkup. Make sure banished fey are behaving, mortals still unknowing, and then come home. Piece of cake."

Tooth nodded slowly, though her wings still beat like mad. What was with this mission, or whatever they were doing? It was like walking into a battle you know you probably won't survive. "I'll try not to freak out," she muttered.

"Good." He took a step back from her, his smile still lighting up his hair-covered face. "I get swords and off we go!"

"Okay." She watched him carefully as he left her tiny room, then sighed once the ivy curtain swung shut behind him. Why? Why did _she _have to go to one of the most dangerous places for her kind? North made sense; he was strong, burly, tough. But her? She could barely throw a punch! Okay, sure, she had those swords her parents made for her, but that was pretty much where her fighting knowledge ended. And what good were swords to freaking iron? Useless. Useless, useless, useless.

Iron was a poison to the fey. A single touch burned the skin; prolonged contact was deadly. Being around it wasn't terrible, though. The fumes made fey a bit tired, but that was overcome with persistent exposure. So, as long as they didn't touch the deadly metal, they were pretty much fine. Kind of like acid.

But New York City was the worst place to go because iron was _everywhere. _Modern mortal society was pretty much like that, but New York had one of the highest iron counts in that realm. It was extremely difficult to avoid while there, and she was about to walk straight into it. Somewhat willingly. And for what? All to just check up on fey criminals and mortals.

"You're dead, Tooth. You're so dead," she moaned, trying and failing at making her wings stop moving so she could sit still for a while. She'd have to make herself when they reached New York, but for now, she would just fly around her tiny room like there was no tomorrow. Which there might not be. Who knows?

Another part that was scaring her, though much less, was the fact that they were going into neutral territory, which meant that any creature from her realm—Avalon—was allowed to be there. But she could deal with dangerous fey. It was the toxic substance that put her nerves on edge.

She flew over to her tiny mirror, staring at her reflection, trying to take calming breaths. In and out. In and out. Her long brown hair was really messy from her anxiously running her fingers through it, so she tried to smooth it out to make it look like she was calm. The worst mistake would be to enter the city appearing flustered, for it would make her an easy target. Which she really didn't need to deal with right now. "Okay. Look your best," she mumbled and finally stopped fluttering her wings. Getting ready would take her mind off things, even if it was a rather tedious task.

With a decisive sigh, she went under her bed and pulled out the sparse beauty products she possessed (which were just faerie lip and eyelid applicants). She already had a green, yellow, and blue pattern trace her forehead and cheekbones from birth, so she never really thought it necessary to put more color onto her face. But the ritual was mindless and methodic, which was essential to having her calm down.

Using a soft brush, she scooped up some of the pink powder and placed it on her eyelids, making her pink eyes and eyelashes pop out even more. Next, she put on a light sheen of lipstick and, using a hairbrush her mother gave to her, she smoothed out the rest of the knots in her straight hair. When she did, the yellow and green and blue undertones stood out, matching the markings on her face and accentuating her pointed ears. She smiled brightly into the mirror, trying to get her faux confident look down.

Yeah. She looked like she could totally take on a city full of lame-ass iron and criminals and not even be afraid.

Ugh, okay, her nervousness was so apparent in her eyes that it was just pathetic. It wasn't like she was a mortal; she was _fey_. And she'd be damned if she was going to let a stupid metal get in the way of what she needed to do.

Just then she heard footsteps round the corner, and North stuck his head into her room. "Toothiana? Ready to go?"

She nodded with more resolution than she felt. "Ready," she responded, grabbing the swords lying on her bed and shoving them into their sheaths.

North smiled warmly at her, feeling a wave of pride wash over him. Now that was the Tooth he knew.

As they headed toward the portal that would take them to New York, Tooth flew beside North mainly so she would be around his height. The man was a giant and she often felt tiny next to him, like some sort of insignificant insect. "Hey, North?" she asked suddenly, biting her lip.

North glanced at her, eyes curious. "Yes?"

"How bad is it? Being around that much iron?"

He laughed heartily at that, bending backwards to show his full amusement. Tooth was taken aback, and a little insulted, but when he spoke, his words were kind. "Is not bad as you think. Easy to dodge and breathing it does not hurt. You are strong girl. You will be fine."

"But . . . what if I'm not?" she whispered, self-doubt creeping out. "What if I'm just like every weak faerie who goes there?"

North stopped walking abruptly, his eyes firmly locked with hers. "You've been to mortal realm. You know how it works. Follow your gut and everything will work. Yes?"

"Okay, I trust you." She smiled at him, honestly feeling better. She doubted that he realized how much his words meant to her, especially considering she could not think of the last time she felt this apprehensive about something. The sensation was rather foreign to her, and she didn't like it.

At long last they reached the portal, also called the Faerie Path. Tooth preferred the latter, but she knew many thought it sounded cliché, including North. Whatever.

The Path was underneath an archway covered in flowers and vines. Though the absolute darkness within the tunnel looked ominous, they both knew their way so well that it was more comforting than anything, especially for North. Navigating portals was one of his expertise, and he saw it as his birthright.

"Buckle up," he said as they walked underneath the arch.

Tooth giggled. Ever since he heard mortals use the phrase, he'd say it every time they traveled anywhere. He thought it was hilarious since they weren't actually strapping onto anything. Granted, it wasn't her sense of humor, but she did appreciate the lightheartedness in his voice whenever he said the expression.

Once they were completely submerged in darkness, the archway behind them closed, extinguishing the tiny bit of light they had. Then little pinpricks of light lit up all around them, looking like stars.

When an orb appeared in front of them, North took it in his hands and tossed it gently towards one of the lights. Once it joined with the light, a tugging sensation pulled at their stomachs. The next thing they knew, they were thrown into the distant light so quickly that everything became one big blur.

Almost instantly they fell through the other side of the portal, landing gracefully on their feet due to years of practice. Tooth turned around to watch the Path blink out of existence, its black hole replaced with natural landscape of Central Park. She smiled a bit forlornly, not really wanting to turn around to see the modern city.

"Tooth," North said a little impatiently, wanting to get started so they could return home fairly soon.

_I know, I know. Hold your horses, _she thought, breathing in deeply through her nose before turning slowly around.

Her jaw dropped.

There were tall, metallic buildings as far as the eye could see. They gleamed in the sunlight, appearing so beautiful when, in actuality, they really weren't. Cars zoomed past on the street, their iron stink wafting into Tooth's nose. There were also metal poles and fences and bikes. Even mortals were walking around wearing and holding so much iron that it made her sick to think about it.

It seemed like the air hung with metal, as if its materials had been absorbed into the suffocating, polluted humidity. This was nonsense of course or else Tooth wouldn't be able to even breathe, but there was a certain thickness to the air that made her question her logic. She hadn't been here since they industrialized, and the horrendous view was testimony as to why.

North saw her wide-eyed expression and sighed deeply before saying in a quiet voice, "Here it is, Tooth.

"Welcome to New York City."


	2. A Foreign Land

**_"A million objects pass through my periphery. . . . The city's driving me out of my mind." –Bright Eyes [Let's Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to be Loved)]_**

North and Tooth walked along the city sidewalks, making sure they were invisible to the mortals. Tooth wasn't really sure what they were looking for, and she kept flinching every time they got a little too close to a metal bar or one of those rectangular things all the humans carried with them. North said they were "cell phones" and "iPods", but she certainly hadn't seen them before. It'd been too long since she walked within crowds of humans to know of these new inventions.

After a while, she became impatient. "So where exactly are we going?" she asked, eyes darting all around her.

"Oh!" North exclaimed, making her jump. "Of course! List. . . . Ah! I have list here."

He held up a piece of paper with names, locations, and descriptions. Tooth narrowed her eyes, a little bit confused. "Is that—"

"List of criminals, yes. We check on them." He smiled widely at her.

She, however, did not return it. "That's _really _long," she muttered dubiously, glaring a bit at the parchment. That would take at least two days! It was hard to imagine spending a full day here, nonetheless having to sleep through the night and repeat the process tomorrow.

North laughed at her words. "That is why I split it! You take half, I take other, and we're done by nightfall."

"W-Wait," she started, aghast. "You want us to separate?! North, I'm really not comfortable enough to do that here."

"Nonsense! Is just what you need. Take plunge and all is good."  
"No, it's really not." She couldn't believe he was saying this. He _knew _how nervous she was for this trip, so being on her own was not a good idea. Like, at all.

When he looked at her he seemed honestly confused. "Is only way we finish today. Unless you wish to stay the night."

"No, but—"

"Good, then all is settled," he said as he swiftly handed her a list. "Meet by portal after sunset."

"North, I—"

"Good luck, Tooth!"

"Wait!" she shouted, but he was already lost in the crowd far ahead of her. Curse his comfort in being around here. It made it impossible for her to even dream of navigating her way to him. As she stood there, dumbfounded, his head slowly disappeared from view.

"Great," she muttered, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Just great. Leave a girl here to fend for herself." She looked up at the sky, noticing clouds beginning to cover the intense sun. If it started raining on her, it'd be so fortuitous that she'd probably start laughing.

Her mind reeled with a mixture of anger and fright, the former winning at the moment. She didn't know her way around the city at all, so how the hell was she supposed to find _anyone _on this list? It seemed more time consuming because she'd just wander around the streets, confused and helpless. And she didn't want to ask any of the humans because then she'd have to camouflage herself as one of them which could be tricky.

With an irritated growl she read the names and locations on the list of outcasts. Some names she recognized, for they were those who committed such high treason to Avalon that they were banished for life. And most of them were from the Unseelie Court. Typical.

There were two Courts in Avalon: Seelie and Unseelie. The Seelie were the fey who brought summer and warmth to the mortal realm and were often gentle and at least somewhat kind. She liked to think of them as the good guys. The Unseelie, however, were quite different. They brought winter and coldness to mortals and were generally cruel and violent. They definitely lacked the code of honor that presented itself in the Seelie Court. Tooth thought of them as the bad guys, for they could never be trusted.

She, of course, was part of the Seelie Court. North was, too, but he was really adopted into it. King Mimeron, the Seelie King, found North abandoned as a child in Unseelie territory and brought him back to summer's land so he could live a better life. Because of his heritage, North wasn't fond of warm weather and preferred to dress in furs when he had the chance.

She mulled over this as she looked at the names, slowly realizing that she knew of pretty much all the fey on there. Awesome. Too bad the locations next to the names were almost like reading indiscernible scribbles for all the good they did her.

After a few minutes of standing in the middle of the busy sidewalk, she decided to take action. She looked around her, paying close attention to the people passing by. Many were residents of the city, but others were tourists who had their noses stuck into maps. As one walked around her, she heard him thank the heavens for the free maps of the city down by some vendor.

That was it! She'd just grab a map. Easy.

Rolling up the parchment still in her hands, she made her way to the nearest vendor, hoping that it was the one the man spoke of. It was quite a bit of a walk, mainly because of the swarms of people she navigated around, but it was worth it; there beside a man selling hotdogs lay piles of city maps. "Woo!" she shouted, darting over and grabbing one. At the moment she really didn't care how childish her exclamation sounded. She was one step closer to going home.

One very, very small step.

She moved over to the side, trying to get out of the way without touching anything. She opened the map and stared at it in dismay. "Oh boy," she muttered despondently. "It's freaking huge."

With a massive sigh, she sat on the dirty sidewalk and spread the map in front of her. What she needed was a quill and some ink. Or even just ink. It was going to be annoying and difficult to keep track of all these places without some type of markers.

Okay, it's just a bump in the road. Move on.

She unrolled the parchment and placed it next to the map, reading it over carefully to see if any criminals were in the same area. This took quite some time, but it was worth it. Most of them seemed to be within a few miles of one another. The only downside was that this small radius started pretty far away from where she was. Probably so they wouldn't try to get back in through the portal, but still. It took time to get there, and time was something that she didn't want to waste.

It'd be most convenient for her to fly there, for traveling through sky got rid of the crowds of humans. On the other hand, she'd be really easy to spot and may make herself a target to any violent fey hanging around.

Walking it was, then.

As she moved along the urban area, a slight smile plastered itself onto her face. Despite the suffocation of the crowds and the stench of iron, she was actually glad to be in the city. She was surrounded by so many types of humans with different cultures, backgrounds, and languages. The _languages_. Fey generally spoke English and Gaelic (who do you think taught them to the Irish?) and knew a few other languages like German, Latin, and sometimes Greek. Tooth was different. Each language was a weave of different sounds and rhythms, and she loved them all. So much so that she became fluent in almost every one. Sure, there might some out there that she'd never even heard of, but she understood all the ones known to her.

So being around all this diversity made her intellectual side squeal with joy. Screw this being an introduction to the modern world; the language was all she really cared about.

This curiosity is what kept her going through her long walk around the city. It ended up taking a couple of hours for her to get to the places of banishment. The sun showed her it was in the early afternoon, and she had started fairly early in the morning. How was she supposed to do all this and still get back to the portal by nightfall?

Looks like North was just gonna have to wait. She was pretty good at doing things on a time crunch, but not being able to fly really took a toll on her efficiency. She wasn't a miracle worker.

"All right," she mumbled to herself, "first name on the list is . . . Isaac. Banished for treason and attempted murder on the Seelie King." She furrowed her brows. That seemed like a pretty light sentence, but maybe that was because it was Mimeron who gave it. He tended to go easy on criminals, quite unlike the Unseelie King. Isaac would be dead if he had tried to murder the other royal.

She ventured into a tight alley where Isaac's home should be hidden. It was blocked on three sides by high brick walls and trash littered all about the concrete ground. Looking for something that seemed out of place, like an entrance of some sort, Tooth pushed trash around gingerly with her foot. There was no way she was going to put her hands in there in case some iron was hiding in its depths.

"Come on, come on, something that screams otherworldly." She braced her hands against the wall to help her stay balanced, and then the bare skin on her ankles scraped something sharp and metallic in the pile of rubbish. She pulled her foot away with a hiss, cringing in fear as her ankle became discolored and started to smoke. Shit.

She fluttered her wings just enough to get off the ground so she could examine her wound. Faeries heal quickly, though, so by the time she got a good look at it, it already stopped smoking and started to slowly close. That didn't make it hurt any less. Stupid, _stupid_ iron.

After she got over the pain and shock from the dumbass metal, she returned to where she was searching. She took one of her swords out to move the trash from the spot she scraped her ankle. There was no way she was risking another chance of being touched by that.

Once all the wrappers and rat feces (ew) were out of the way, she looked very closely at the object. It was an old statue, probably made by a blacksmith with how well the metalwork was done. It was only a couple inches tall, but was super intricate and surprisingly beautiful. It was of a tall, thin woman with long hair and flowing clothes. Maybe it was a dancer or something. Who knows?

Wanting to see it from another angle out of sheer curiosity, Tooth used her sword to lift it a little. This was a mistake.

As soon as she shifted its position, its eyes started to glow. She yelped and backed away, keeping her sword in front of her in case it decided to attack.

That's when its head moved.

At first, it was imperceptible because of how slow the movement was. Then it sped up, and Tooth's eyes widened in pure panic. What was she going to do? Her skin smoked from barely touching the thing! There was no way she could defend herself from it!

_Okay, well, just be ready for whatever happens, _she told herself, gripping her sword tighter. Maybe she could just swat it away and run for dear life.

After its head was facing her, a voice sounded from the tiny object, "_Fey detected._"

She blinked, confused. What? How did it know what she was?

"_Please state your purpose for visitation,_" the voice said, the sound weak and tinny.

"Uh, what?" she asked. She knew that sounded stupid, but she was really confused and didn't understand what was going on and just really wanted this day to be over so she could go home.

"_Please state your purpose for visitation._"

Tooth blinked a couple more times, trying to clear her head so she could think. Visitation, visitation. . . . Oh! _Oh. _Oops. Now she really felt dumb.

"Er, I'm here to, uh, check on Isaac. The criminal." She winced at the hesitation in her voice. Come on, Tooth. You're better than this.

A whizzing came from the figurine, probably processing the information. "_State your name and Court._"

"Toothiana of the Seelie Court."

The statue's head then returned to its initial position, its eyes ceasing their glow. Just when Tooth thought that maybe the thing broke, the ground began to shake as the statue moved backward, bringing along a portion of the concrete beneath. This must be the entrance to Isaac's chamber. It _had _to be.

The ground became still once more. Tooth stood and moved over to the circular hole, looking down. There was no ladder, and it was very deep. Though faeries were light on their feet and could jump this distance, how would one without wings get back up?

She mulled over this as she flew down, anxiety creeping in as it got darker and more confined. Great. Not only did she have to deal with all the iron, but now she had to face her worst fear: tight spaces. Since she was a being who generally spent her time in the air, feeling like she couldn't move freely was excruciatingly uncomfortable.

Her tiny feet landed on the ground, causing lights to flicker into life. She stood in front of a door crafted out of faerie metal, like her swords. Though it was still tight, at least she could see.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered, pushing on the door handle to step inside.

She really wished she hadn't.

The place reeked of iron. It was like opening a door and being greeted by a waterfall of human blood; metallic, heavy, sickening. The actual room was small and circular with a door leading to what she presumed was a bathroom on the other side. A bed was placed next to it, and there were chairs and a table in the center. From what she could see, every wall was lined with iron to keep the prisoner from escaping.

Tooth coughed bitterly, her nose burning from the stench. Where the hell was Isaac? She wanted to get this over with so she could meet up with North and go home.

She moved into the room, eyes roving over the tiny space. Well, he must be in the bathroom, otherwise she would've seen him right away. There really was no place to hide.

Right on cue, the other door swung open, and as it did, she realized that it was made completely of the poisonous metal.

Damn. This was sadistic.

A tall man walked through the door, his black hair messy and greasy. He yawned, rubbing his head.

Tooth rolled her eyes. She didn't have time for this. "Isaac."

The convict jumped, caught completely unawares. "The hell you doing here?! Trespasser!"

She resisted the urge to laugh. Even for a prisoner his senses were extremely dull. But when Tooth was in a serious situation, like now, her bubbly and feisty personality was pushed aside, and she took on the persona of a warrior. It was almost laughable for her to think about actually _being _one, but behaving like it made her appear way more intimidating. And professional.

"I'm here to check on your status," she said, feeling like the statue in the alley. Man, this day really couldn't be over fast enough.

Isaac narrowed his black eyes, mistrusting. "Why?"

"Orders from King Mimeron."

"Oh. Him." He sighed and moved toward Tooth, grinning humorlessly. "Tell the bastard I'm peachy. Haven't left this cell since my banishment. See?" For proof he held up his hands, showing her the raw flesh of open iron wounds on top of scars of old.

Despite the fact that even if he _had _left he wouldn't have told her, Tooth believed him. Why else would he opt to live in this hell hole? She nodded as a response then turned to go.

She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "I do have one question, though."

_I have things to do, buddy. Just get off me and we'll both be much happier. _She gritted her teeth before facing him with raised eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Why'd they send you?" He eyed her up and down, taking in her colorful clothes and markings. "Not only do you stand out like a sore thumb, but you don't look like you could hurt a fly."

Did she just hear him correctly? The guy had some nerve, insulting her like that! She'd show him who's weak, the bastard.

"You'd be surprised what I'm capable of," she said seriously.

"Oooh, I'm so scared of a woman in blue and yellow." He flicked at her skirt mockingly, emphasizing the sarcasm in his voice.

This was really putting her on edge. If this kept up, her composure would slip and her inner self would come out in all its sassy glory. For now, though, she simply jerked away with a scowl etched onto her face. "Do not test me, or I will send a negative progress report to the king. And I highly doubt the consequences will be in your favor." Yeah, Tooth! Way to sound all threatening and scary.

Talking to fey like this was in her comfort zone, for she had to deal with a lot of douchebags back home. So long as the city was far enough away, she was fine. You know, minus the iron-coated walls and all.

Isaac narrowed his eyes. "What more can they do to me, really?"

You're asking the wrong person, buddy. She didn't know all that much about banishment sentences. "Do you wish to find out?" she asked, then shifted. This whole persona obviously wasn't getting through to him. Maybe if she tried something else. . . .

"I guess I do," he snarled in her face, causing her eyes to widen.

She put her hands up between them, raising her brows and smiling. "Look. I don't want to be here, either. I was forced."

"Sure you were."

"No, seriously." She stepped around him, mainly just so he wasn't in her face anymore. "I've never been to a mortal city. All the iron. . . . I feel like I'm going to die walking around up there." She rubbed her arms, focusing her eyes on the concrete floor. It was dirty and disgusting, but she ignored it. "So we're both outcasts, right?"

She glanced up at him, seeing his hostile expression. For a moment she thought he would attack her, but then he slowly nodded.

"Let's help each other," she muttered quietly. "Outcast to outcast."

"How do I know you're not deceiving me?" He crossed his arms over his chest, standing straight-backed.

She blinked a couple times before saying, "Do I look like someone who would intentionally cause trouble? Honestly?" She snorted. "If you think that, then I really don't know what to do with you."

That convinced him. After what felt like an eternity, he sighed heavily and slumped into one of his chairs. "Fine. All I wanted to know was why you were here. I guess you answered my question." He smiled possessively at her. "Outcast."

"Right," she said, heading toward the door once again (hopefully this time he wouldn't ask more dumb questions and she could actually leave). "Thanks for making this less sucky than it could've been."

"Sure thing, sweetheart."

She shuddered as she walked toward the door, which had sealed over with iron. When she said her name into a voice box, the iron slid away, leaving the door faerie safe. After she went in and flew upwards, she mentally chastised herself.

_Less sucky? Really? _What the hell was that about? If he had any ounce of respect for her, it was definitely gone now.

Oh well. It wasn't like she was going to ever see him again.

When she finally reached the surface, her eyes burned from the bright sun. She had all but forgotten that it was still daylight. The statue covered up the hole, leaving the dancing woman motionless as ever. Tooth bent down and concealed it with garbage once again.

"Okay," she muttered, taking out her list and map. "One down, forty-nine to go."

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Every other place she went—from alleyways to holes under bridges—were pretty much the same, except she didn't have to change her personas. They mostly just told her their status as if they'd done it a million times (which they probably had) and then she'd be on her merry way. Once one of the convicts tried to attack her, but that stopped short when she held her swords up to his throat. Even though she probably wouldn't have used them, they were enough to make him back down.

The sun had already started to set when she moved to her second-to-last location. Crap, she'd definitely be way late. Hopefully North wouldn't worry too much about her while he waited for, like, an extra hour or two. She'd make it up to him later.

She pressed her nose into the map as she navigated the streets, finding the exact location where her next convict was kept. When she reached it, she sighed. Another alley. Super.

This one was different from the ten other ones she went to, though, because it actually wasn't a dead end. Therefore, it was lighter and more open and just altogether better for Tooth. It seemed like all this might end on a high note. . . .

_Whoa, there, let's not get ahead of ourselves, _she thought, putting her map and list away. She walked into the alley and commenced her search for the little statue, which happened to be the exact same at every location. After the first one, she learned to search using her swords so she wouldn't get another iron burn. God, there was no way she was going to let her stupidity go on that one. She could be such an _idiot _sometimes.

As she moved garbage bins and other little knick-knacks, she heard footsteps come from the alley's other end. She froze, glancing at the figures. They were short and lanky, their pointed ears longer than their round heads. When they moved closer, she could make out the red hats.

"Shit," she muttered, eyes darting around. Those were redcaps, one of the nastiest faeries. They had razor sharp teeth and killed pretty anything if they were hungry or annoyed. She had to get out of the alley; it wasn't like she was that far in.

She crouched low to avoid being seen, turned, and began to walk out of the alley. When she did, the redcaps began to speak.

"He's comin' back, they say. Raisin' up an army."

"I thought he was dead."

"No, you blubberin' fool. He was just in hidin'."

Tooth didn't know who they were talking about, and quite frankly she didn't care. She just had to get out before th—

"Wait," one said, stopping. "Ya smell that?"

The other sniffed as Tooth continued walking soundlessly. "Smells like a faerie girl."

Her eyes widened. Please, please, just don't find her.

"Think she's over there, by the garbage."

Crap, crap, crap. With that, she rose to her full height and spread her wings. Yeah, screw walking. She'd rather have some random fey see her in the sky than have these numbskulls tear off her flesh.

"Oi!" one shouted. His eyes glinted with hunger. "She's there."

Quickly, she flapped her wings, rising up into the sky just far enough so they couldn't reach her. Luckily the tall buildings hid her from the rest of the city, so she didn't have to worry about any of that crap.

She smirked down at the redcaps, who were running around in circles, shouting up at her. Ha, good thing they couldn't fly, the suckers.

As they growled in sheer annoyance, another figure was seen coming into the alley, but it was running at full-speed. Tooth's heart accelerated, for it was quickly getting dark so the figure was shadowed. But she could tell it was tall and didn't know what kind of powers it possessed. Maybe now was the time to head out.

When she turned to fly into the street, she heard the redcaps cussing at the figure, which made her anxiety grow. She took off like a bullet, not wanting to meet whatever it was chasing them.

Suddenly, something collided with her back, making her fall to the ground.

"What the. . . ." She pushed herself up on her elbows, wincing. Nothing felt broken, but there was a throbbing coming from her right wing. She tried moving it, causing a shooting pain to travel down her entire wing and upper back. Panic welled inside of her.

If this was happening, then she couldn't fly.

How was she going to get out of this mess otherwise? She had leave right now or else something bad was definitely going to happen to her.

She forced herself into a sitting position, her vision blurring from the pain. Whatever had slammed into her must've been fairly heavy. It wasn't like she was super delicate or anything. She just didn't understand why it hurt so much; it felt more like a stab wound than one caused by force, but she hadn't felt anything that would support this sensation.

She needed to stand if she wanted to survive. That much was clear; however, when she attempted, her head spun so dangerously that she thought she would faint, which would be worse than remaining where she was.

So she slid into the shadows, waiting with bated breath for the brawl to be over. Maybe they'd all just kill each other and she'd leave with no problems.

Yeah, that was never going to happen.

The voices of the redcap and that other . . . thing . . . reached Tooth's ears. She listened in to be able to tell when their fight might be over.

". . . here?" asked a deep voice. This was the figure, for it didn't sound like either of the redcap's.

"I don't know what yer talkin' about."

"You stole it. I want it back."

"Stole what?"

"_The ring_, pea brain."

"I don't have no ring."

"Really?" A crash sounded in the alley and Tooth flinched. "Then what's that in your pocket?"

"I—"

"Take it out. _Now._"

Another crash occurred, followed by a pathetic whimper.

"Fine. FINE. Take yer damn ring. Wasn't worth much anyway."

A pause. Then, "One more thing. Who's your friend?"

"Huh?"

"You know, the girl I slammed down with your partner's corpse."

Tooth's blood ran cold. She looked over at the place she fell, seeing a dark lump lying there. When she narrowed her eyes, she saw a red hat in the dim light. Sh-She was knocked down with a _corpse_?!

"She ain't my friend!"  
"Then who is she?"

"I dunno. Ask her yerself."

"Will do." With that, Tooth her another crash followed by a loud scream that was cut off short. The other redcap must've had his life end as well. Not that she was too upset about it.

What she _was _upset about were the footsteps slowly approaching her and the fact that she was pretty much defenseless. She didn't know this thing's allegiance or motivations! For all she knew, it could be worse than the redcaps. Like the one that damaged her wing. . . .

_Don't think about it, Tooth. Focus on the danger at hand._

Yeah, easier said than done, inner voice. If it were that simple, then she'd be better at handling these kinds of situations. Not like she'd been in many before, mind you.

Finally the footsteps reached her, and she tensed herself for whatever it was going to do to her.

When it stood in front of her, she looked straight ahead, refusing to make eye contact. No matter what position she was in, she wasn't going down without a fight.

"Who are you?"

Tooth flinched at the deep voice, but remained silent.

"I said, _who are you?_"

"Like I'd tell you," she hissed angrily.

The figure sighed deeply, tiredly. "I don't have time for this," it muttered and crouched down in front of her, forcing her to see its face.

Well, more like _his _face. What stood before her was a male faerie, his skin inhumanly pale, his hair short and white. His eyes were a bright blue and like all the fey, he had pointed ears. "What's your relation with them?" he asked, jerking his head toward the redcaps.

Tooth scowled. "Nothing. They _attacked_ me."

"So you were, what, fleeing them?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, I was waiting for them to pick me off."

"Why were you just hovering there, then?" he snapped, glaring. "That didn't look like fleeing to me."

"I'm not going to fly out in the middle of the city," she said hotly. "I didn't want to be seen by anything, okay? I _wasn't with them_."

He leaned back on his heels, assessing her. The calculative look on his face made her angrier, but then he shrugged and stood. "Okay. I believe you."

"That quickly, huh?" she muttered darkly, not necessarily believing him back.

"No offense, but you don't really look like the type that runs around with redcaps," he said, chuckling.

Okay, yeah, that would be a ridiculous scenario, but she didn't appreciate the tone in his voice. What was with these guys and questioning her capabilities? It was getting on her nerves. "I could if I wanted to," she responded, causing him to chuckle more.

"Sure," he said sarcastically. "Keep telling yourself that."

He turned to leave, but Tooth stopped him with a, "Wait!"

He cocked his head at her. "What?"

"You knocked me down with a _dead redcap_."

"Yeah, so?" She was incredulous at the confused expression on his face. Was she the only one with any decency around here? Ugh, she was never going into a mortal city again.

"So," she elaborated, "I seriously cannot get up thanks to you. Could you just take five seconds and help me?"

"I suppose." He bent down a bit, holding out his hand.

She took it gingerly, sucking in a breath as he helped her up, and not just because of the excruciating pain shooting through her back. His skin was ice cold, which could only mean one thing. He was Unseelie.

And Unseelie meant trouble.

"You okay?" he asked as she ripped her hand out of his.

"I'm fine." She clenched her teeth, trying hard to ignore her swimming vision. She had to get away from him.

He narrowed his eyes. "Doesn't seem like it."

"Why do you care?" she snapped. "You didn't a second ago, so just go on your merry way and leave me alone." With an evil look toward the man, she started walking swiftly away. Her vision blurred again, followed by an aching pressure forming beneath her skull. She swayed.

"I didn't realize y—" The rest of his words were drowned out as Tooth's ears filled with a _swoosh_ing sound.

Black inched into her vision, cutting out the corners of the world. Defiantly, she attempted to keep walking, but all the pain was too much. Without another thought, the black engulfed her, and she fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

_**A/N: Chapter two, done. I don't know how long it'll be for the third to be posted since I'm starting school on Friday, but I'll try to update quickly. I hope you guys enjoyed this, and I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes I didn't catch.**_


	3. Underground

**A/N: Sorry for the late update, guys. Life has gotten in the way of my writing, as always. Anyway, this chapter was initially going to be about twice as long, but I decided to split it up into two so I could update quicker. I've been itching to post it, so I got a little impatient.**

**I hope you enjoy it! :D**

* * *

**_"So I'd been captured? So I was starving? Did that mean I had to shrivel up and die?" – Patrick Jennings, _****_We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes_**

_Darkness. _

_ It engulfed her like a suffocating blanket, forcing her struggling form to remain still. All the light from the world seemed to have dissipated, leaving behind a gaping hole where she floated. Alone._

_ Loneliness really was torture, wasn't it? Especially when one is drowning in a sea of black ink. It could've been so easily avoided, too, if she'd only swam faster away. Her fault that she was dying, the air slowly being stolen from her lungs._

_ Just when she began to lose hope, she noticed a light._

_ It was faint and indistinguishable, for her eyes were shut tight, but it was there. Flickering in the distance, it seemed to be doing some kind of dance. Like the frozen statue of the metal woman._

_ Statue. . . ._

_ Wasn't there something she was supposed to be doing? The thought tickled the back of her mind, but the shadows kept pushing it away. This was important. She had to see what it was, remember. . . ._

Tooth's eyes flew open, her lungs gasping for air. Her heart beat erratically in her chest, fear creeping in as she looked at her surroundings.

Where the hell was she?

Last thing she remembered, she was searching for one of the last criminals she had to check on before meeting up with North.

Oh, God. She definitely didn't make their deadline; she wasn't even sure what happened or how long she'd been asleep.

She quickly pushed herself up, causing her back to scream and head to pound. Her mind reeled, trying to figure out why she was in so much pain. Then she remembered.

Redcaps, being knocked down, hiding, the Unseelie.

If it were possible, even more dread overwhelmed her. Getting out of here wasn't going to be easy if she had passed out just from trying to walk. This didn't bode well for her, and worse, she didn't even know her location. All of this could only mean one thing: She was epically screwed.

Even so, she wasn't going to let anything deter her from attempting to escape, but she'd definitely have to improvise. Tooth's modes of transportation were extremely limited, so some creative thinking was in order.

As she ran her hands over the ground, searching for anything in the pitch black, a dim light found its way into the room. Its flickering made her think it was a candle. Who the one _holding _it was, she wasn't too keen on knowing.

"You shouldn't be moving," said a voice, and Tooth recognized it instantly. It was that Unseelie boy.

She glared up at him, not responding. With the light, she could see what was around her.

The room was small, square, and damp. There were some moldy papers and food scattered about, along with the bodies of dead cockroaches and rat skeletons. Other than that, it was empty, which meant no furniture or anything that suggested anyone had ever been here.

Dirty and unwelcoming. Brilliant.

The Unseelie stood still, his unblinking eyes on her. It was really creepy, so Tooth tried to ignore him as she attempted to think of a way to get out of there. Maybe she could use her swords as canes. . . . No, they were too short. Besides, that sounded like something North would do, not her.

North. She abandoned him. Though it wasn't intentional, a sick feeling still sank in her stomach at the thought of him standing there alone, waiting.

"Really, you shouldn't move," the man said again, this time taking a step towards her. "You have a head injury."

Head injury? She only remembered the corpse damaging her wing, not her head. Weird. "And you care because . . . ?" she asked, frustrated. It'd be better if he just shut up and let her think.

"I don't want you to die." He walked all the way to her, crouching down and setting the candle on the ground. He rested his forearms on his knees. "Who are you, by the way?"

She scoffed. Yeah, right. Like she'd tell him that. "It's none of your business."

With a weary look, he groaned, running his hands through his white hair. "Okay," he said, "listen. I don't really want you here, but I'm not gonna leave you out in the city to die from some stupid head trauma. And I can't really get you back to where you came from if I don't know _who you are_."

"Why should I believe you, _Unseelie?_" she hissed.

His eyes hardened at her words, causing both unease and satisfaction to swell within her."Maybe," he ground out between clenched teeth, "because I just saved your pathetic life, _Seelie._"

"If I remember correctly, you're the one who attacked me, so that's pretty much null and void."

"I thought you were with the redcaps."

She rolled her eyes, knowing that this was true, but not necessarily caring at the moment. This small action caused her headache to worsen; not a good sign. Then she had an idea.

"Okay," she muttered, "fine. I'll tell you my name _only if _you tell me yours first."

He rose his brows, snorting. "Really? Is that it?"

"Yes."

"All right, then." The corners of his mouth twitched up, forming a small, cocky grin. "The name's Jack. Jack Frost."

"I'm Toothiana." She looked at him, not liking the way his eyes gleamed when she said her name. It made her uncomfortable, especially in the vulnerable state she was in. Why did she let North talk her into coming? She could be at home just about now, doing whatever she wished without any injuries or creepy faeries keeping her in some abandoned hideout.

Jack's smile widened. "See? That wasn't so bad, now, was it?"

"I don't know, I feel pretty traumatized." Tooth leaned back against the wall, resting her hands delicately in her lap. Tears threatened to spring in her eyes from how badly that movement hurt her back.

"You're feisty." He noticed the way her eyes narrowed at his words, her distrust evident on her face. "Why are you here, in the city?"

Tooth was actually willing to answer this question. It would have him realize that she wasn't one to be messed with, no matter how small or helpless she may appear, especially now. "I was doing a progress report on the banished criminals," she said. "For the Seelie Realm."

"So you literally work for the King," he responded, knitting his brows, "or are at least trusted by him." He leaned back from her, aggressively rubbing his eyes. "Well, shit."

His reaction set off warning bells in Tooth's head. If he was reacting this way to her doing _that_, which she was pretty sure wasn't a direct order from the king, then Jack really was trouble. Just as she predicted.

"Not on good terms with him?" she asked bitterly.

"You could say that." He looked at her again, his intense gaze sending shivers down her spine. "I can't let you go back."

Her mouth dropped open, real fear sinking deep into her bones. "Wha-Why?! I don't even talk to the guy! I won't tell anyone I saw you."

"Yeah, I'm not buying that." A sigh escaped between his lips as he continued to assess her. She felt naked, helpless. And the worst part was, that was basically her situation. She couldn't move, just the horrible ache in her head proved that, which made her virtually powerless against whatever he wished to do to her.

She couldn't remember ever being in a situation like this. She was incapacitated and alone, weak and vulnerable. It was like being a flightless bird in a cage.

When Jack growled in frustration, she was brought back to earth. "You know," he muttered, "logic tells me to kill you. It really does." A pause in which Tooth fought hard to breathe. "But I won't."

A small amount of relief washed over her. "W-Why?"

_Tooth, shut up and just be glad he isn't going to._

His actions made no sense, though, and she wanted answers.

"Because you're relatively innocent," he said slowly, eyes roving over her body, "and you might be useful."

Something told Tooth that the second reason was his main one, but she didn't really want to dwell on it. What mattered was allowing her injuries to heal and then using her swords to get the hell away from him. Thinking of her hand-crafted weapons, her hand subconsciously drifted to their location around her waist. When her fingers grasped empty air, she froze.

Jack saw her widened eyes, believing his words were what freaked her out. But then her mouth opened, and what came from it was not what he was expecting.

"Where," she started, her voice trembling, "are my swords?"

At first, he was stunned, but that only lasted a second. His mouth curled into a wicked smile. "I had to take precautions, and now that I know who you are . . ."

Tooth sat there, waiting for the completion of this sentence like her life depended on it.

". . . you won't be getting them back."

Of course. Why did she have to open her big mouth? If he didn't know where she was from, she may have been able to get out of there after she healed. She scowled at him, beyond angry and frightened.

He grinned at her expression then furrowed his brows, thinking. She didn't know what was going on inside his head, and frankly she didn't want to.

Finally, he picked up the tiny candle sitting beside him, rising from his crouched position. This left Tooth alone on the floor, her whole upper body aching and her mind racing. "Sleep," Jack ordered, any ounce of worry he had when he first arrived gone. And all because she'd let it slip that she worked for Mimeron. "Your head should be fine in a few hours," he continued, "and I don't want you incapacitated when we leave."

"Where are we going?" Tooth asked frantically before he exited the room.

He smiled, his eyes shining with some knowledge that she didn't like. "You'll see."

After that, he was gone.

Tooth continued to lean against the wall, staring into the suffocating darkness. Her long hair kept her shoulders warm against the chilly air. Maybe she was underground, for the air in the streets was hot. At least she was away from the iron, even though she was now some Unseelie's prisoner. . . .

Prisoner. Like the criminals she was checking up on only a couple hours ago. Main difference was _she _had done nothing wrong. Jack had a vendetta against her king, and she was the one paying for it. It wasn't fair or just in any sense of the words, but he didn't seem like a very trustworthy faerie. More like, he wasn't trustworthy. That much she could say was a fact.

Refusing to behave like the incapacitated hostage she was, Tooth pressed up harder against the cold stone wall, raising her hands and using them to push her legs up beneath her. She tried her best to ignore the pain lacing through her, slowly rising to a standing position. That was a bit easier than what she had been anticipating.

Taking a deep breath, she moved away from the wall. Her vision swam, but she bit down hard on her lip to focus. Logically, she knew that staying in the room and allowing her body to rest was probably the better option, but her self-perseverance was screaming at her to leave. Now.

It's what North would want her to do, right? To show how she wasn't the weakling everyone initially saw her as. She had fighting skills that surprised even herself sometimes, and her hatred for captivity gave her even more of an edge. If this faerie boy was so confident that she was completely useless right now, then she'd show his cocky ass how wrong he was. She _would._

Her body, however, was not as gung-ho as her mind. Each step took so much effort due to her injuries, and it was screaming at her to stop and just lay back down. Oh, how wonderful that sounded, how much that would accommodate her physical needs. But she couldn't afford that luxury. She had to get back to North so they could go after Jack together, get her swords, and return home.

It was this determination that allowed her to cross the room. The ache behind her eyes almost blinded her, but she didn't really care at the moment. Sure, it sucked and almost made her collapse more than once while traversing the short distance. Sure, she felt like her back and wing were on fire and going to consume her. . . .

Wait, what was she saying? Oh, right. No matter how much this _sucked, _she would persevere. It was in her blood. She was, after all, her parents' daughter.

After what felt like an eternity, she reached the doorway the white-haired faerie had gone through. She placed her hand on it, breathing deeply and shutting her eyes. Her head hurt so much, like there was some balloon expanding inside it and pushing against her skull. It was a feeling completely foreign to her (she usually avoided injuries at all costs), and it scared her. Bad.

_Keep going, _she thought harshly, biting down on her lip again. _You can't stop, Tooth. You _can't.

"Fight the fear," she whispered to herself, opening her eyes. Yeah, she could do that. It'd never stopped her before, and it sure as hell wasn't going to stop her now.

She walked forward again, using the wall as support. If only she had something to hold her head, for that was the main problem at the moment. Oh, well. As the humans put it, _you can't always get what you want._

Giggling mentally at herself, she slowly navigated the damp tunnel. Water dripped from the ceiling, echoing around the darkness. It wasn't as cold out here as it was in the other room, and that made her feel a bit better. Granted, she could've done without the muggy humidity, but she was from the Summer Court. Heat was kind of her thing. Not cold.

She didn't know how far she walked. Because of her state, it felt like miles upon miles. Whenever this sensation would come to her, though, she reminded herself of how long the trip across the tiny room felt. Then she'd get frustrated. She probably hadn't made any progress at all! What kind of idiot was she, anyway, for getting herself into this situation? It was mostly the Unseelie's fault, but her poor decision making did play a large role in it, too.

Basically, she just kept chastising herself and fighting the pain and trying to simply move forward the entire time she was in that tunnel. Whenever her thoughts turned dark, which was frequently, she would tell herself that dwelling on the situation wouldn't do anything. Her only option was action, and the best way for her to accomplish that would be for her ever-working mind to shut up. For once, just shut _u—_

"What are you doing?"

Tooth jumped, lost her balance, and slipped painfully into the wall. Luckily, she didn't completely fall, but her head pounded in protest to the sudden jostling. She glared at the Unseelie, wondering how she didn't hear him _or _see the flickering light from the candle.

Oh. Right. Her injury nearly blinded her.

Jack narrowed his eyes at her, displeasure evident in his expression. "I thought I said to stay in that room."

"Like I'd listen to you," she spat, her voice stronger than what she was expecting.

He didn't even bat an eye, noticing how weak she still was. That pissed her off. She didn't like being at a disadvantage, and right then, she was at a lot of them.

Jack glanced behind him, back to where the empty room was located. Tooth would give anything to know what he was thinking, but his face was a mask. Though he appeared annoyed, that was all she could see. If there were any other emotions bubbling beneath the surface, he hid them expertly. It frustrated her.

"You want to push yourself, huh?" he said, his question sounding more like a statement.

She said nothing.

A grin spread across his face. "Fine, then. Come with me."

"What?" she asked, confused, before she could stop herself.

"I didn't want you to accidentally kill yourself, but since you're being so damn stubborn. . . ." He trailed off, shrugging, then jerked his head to the right. "So follow me."

Her eyes hardened, that distrust bubbling within her. "I thought you didn't want me 'incapacitated' when we left."

"We're not leaving," he clarified, rolling his eyes. "Just come on, will you? I obviously can't leave you alone, and you're apparently well enough to be wandering around blind as a bat."

"Bats can actually navigate the dark quite well," she muttered despite herself.

"And I actually don't give a damn."

His voice was ice, his expression even colder. Tooth knew if she kept pushing him, she probably would get more crap beaten out of her. If she would even survive, that is. So, she shut her mouth, put on the best defiant expression she could, and stood up straight. Just because listening to him for the moment was really her only option didn't mean she had to be polite about it. That just wasn't her personality. She could be a sassy little thing, and that ingrained desire was clawing its way through her. She did push it down to a minimum, though. Survival was key.

He looked at her briefly, noticing her change in position, and turned down another tunnel. Tooth didn't notice that passageway before since it had been so dark, and she was secretly glad because she may have literally ran into him if she took that path. That would've been _so _pleasant.

She followed him slowly, biting on her lip to keep from screaming out at times. At one point, she completely stopped walking, her hands gripping the wall as she tried to remain conscious. Jack went far ahead before he noticed the lack of footsteps behind him. When he looked at her, she was too busy fighting the pain to throw him the glare she thought he deserved. The bastard didn't even backtrack; he just stood there, waiting for her episode to pass so she could catch up with him. If she ever got out of there, so help her. . . .

No, not if. When. _When _she got out of there.

Jeez, pessimistic much? What the hell was wrong with her?

She picked herself up, swallowing hard, and managed to stay upright the rest of the way. They emerged into another dank room, but this one was a bit larger with some stuff thrown into a corner. What she noticed, though, was that it was cleaner than where she'd been kept. If this was where Jack was staying, it made sense. Didn't mean she had to like it.

"Sit," he ordered, setting the candle down in the center of the room.

Tooth glared and ignored his order. Why did he even bring her here? Probably just to keep an eye on her.

Jack glanced at her through his bangs. "Right, you're trying to prove your strength," he muttered, chuckling. "Pushing yourself won't do you any good, you know."

"Says the guy keeping me prisoner." She crossed her arms over her chest, winced at the pain in her back, and settled for leaning nonchalantly against the wall.

"I wouldn't call this a prison," he mused. "I'd say you're a captive. A captive who I can't have slowing me down, so you'd better sit _now._"

Tooth gawked at him. How did he do that? Going from relatively calm to scaring the shit out of her in a couple seconds.

Regrettably, she sank to the floor, relief spreading through her back and head. Jack shot her a malicious grin before moving over to his stuff. There wasn't much there, just a small traveling bag and what looked like a blue cloak. Nothing else.

As she assessed this, Tooth's mind wandered. Where'd he put her swords? They obviously weren't with him here, or else she'd be able to see them. Worry bubbled in her stomach, but she pushed it down. There'd be plenty of time to get the weapons back after she'd properly healed, which should only take a few hours if she rested. A couple days if she didn't.

A couple days it was, then.

"We'll be leaving in five hours," he said suddenly, snapping her out of her reverie. "I need you to lay down during that time and keep your mouth shut."

"And if I don't?"

Jack faced her, his height making Tooth feel smaller than she already was. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."

Her eyes shot him daggers, but that's all the retaliation she did. Frankly, she _was _tired, and if it was between her resting by her own will and him giving her some potion or something, she'd rather it be the former.

When she silently laid down (keeping her eyes open, mind you), Jack smirked. It didn't show, but he was secretly relieved. He hated forcing things into people. It was difficult and he never felt right doing it.

Tooth stared at the wall across from her, fighting the exhaustion that took hold. Jack's eyes on her helped her keep consciousness, for they made her extremely uneasy, but her body was having none of it. Will power could only do so much. When the body needs to recuperate, it can take over the mind quickly and viciously.

That is what happened to Tooth. Soon enough, her eyes closed against her will, and she sank into a fitful slumber.

* * *

"Get up."

Tooth laid her arm over her eyes, trying to hide from the person waking her.

"Hey, princess, no lollygagging. We need to go."

Princess? She wasn't a princess. Actually, she quite hated that pet name. It always sounded degrading to her.

"I will pick you up and drag you over my shoulder if I have to."

_Okay, okay, _she thought, groaning. _Take a breather._

She sat up slowly, worried that her head will still hurt, but no pain came to her. When she moved her arms back and forth to test her back, she found that it was still injured. Especially her wing.

So, resting really did help. Too bad she still couldn't fly, or run really, but hey. At least she didn't have to worry about passing out anymore.

Tooth stood, brushing some grime off her dress. She cringed at how disgusting she was. If only she were at home, sleeping in her nice comfy bed. . . .

Jack snapped his fingers in front of her face, making her jump. When she looked at him, he was scowling. "Let's go," he said impatiently. "I don't have all day."

"Maybe," she replied calmly, putting her hands on her hips, "I'd be more willing to oblige if you didn't treat me like shit."

"That's a lie and we both know it." He slung his bag over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes. "I only got you to sleep through a threat, so don't give me that speech.

As much as she hated to admit it, he did have a point. She didn't want to follow any of his orders, so asking her nicely wouldn't make any difference at all. Still, being a captive or prisoner or whatever the hell she was wasn't exactly on her to-do list. "Fine," she mumbled. "I'll cooperate. Where are we going?"

"A dealer," he said, surprising her. She wasn't expecting any kind of straight answer from him.

Jack moved toward the doorway without another word, motioning his fingers for her to follow. She obliged, managing to keep up with his long strides despite the ache in her back.

As they traveled underground, her thoughts flitted to North. She wasn't sure of the time just yet, but she assumed it was early morning. Which meant that North would be long gone, either searching for her in the city or bringing a search team from Avalon _to _look for her. The idea of him being worried made her feel sick. He was one of her best friends, and she would never want him hurting. Mentally or physically.

The walk was actually quite short. They arrived at a ladder that led out into the human world only a few minutes later. Tooth pulled her thoughts back to the present, her eyes taking in the rays of sun glinting through the cracks in the tunnel's cover.

Jack dug through his pack, pulling out a pair of thick gloves. He put them on before climbing up the ladder. When Tooth moved to follow, she saw why he had them.

"Iron?" she asked incredulously, staring open-mouthed at the faerie in front of her.

He looked down, grinning at her hesitance. "Relax," he said. "I'll throw the gloves down for you after I'm out. I'm not a sadist."

Could've fooled her. "I thought you would've wanted me to suffer. I'm your enemy, after all."

He paused for a moment, glancing skyward. "I wouldn't go that far," he muttered. "You're an enemy through association, but I have nothing against you personally. You'd just be a big problem for me if I let you go is all."

"Oh, is that it?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she glared at him. He was going to take years off her life if he kept getting her worked up like this. There was just something about him that got under her skin, more so than any other rogue she'd met. Maybe it was because he switched moods so quickly, making him both unpredictable and extremely irritating.

He shrugged. "I let you live, didn't I?"

"Yeah, because you thought I'd be useful."

"Still do, too." Jack chuckled under his breath, resuming his climb up the ladder. "But you're not my enemy. Just an opponent."

Well, that made her feel extremely insignificant. It was like she were a bug that he brushed off his shoulder into a jar, keeping her for some later vendetta against her queen bug. Or something like that.

Okay, she sucked at metaphors. Who the hell makes a comparison like that?

The one and only Toothiana, that's who.

Jack pushed on the metal covering, sliding it over so they could get out. It made an unpleasant scratching sound while he did this, causing Tooth to press her hands against her ears. Just because her head injury was healed didn't mean it wasn't still sensitive, especially with a sound as grating as that.

Jack hopped out of the tunnel. He blinked against the bright light, his eyes currently accustomed to the dark. He took off his gloves and bent over the opening. "I'm gonna toss them to you," he said to Tooth, dangling the gloves.

She squinted to get a better view and not drop them onto the disgusting floor beneath her feet. She nodded, showing she understood what he was doing. When he let the gloves fall, she caught them between her tiny hands.

The gloves were thick and heavy, designed so no bit of iron could get past the material. There were intricate snowflakes and bare trees sewn into the top of them, the white thread glistening in the sun. As she opened them to put her hands in, one thought came to mind: These looked _expensive._ And Jack didn't seem like the rich type, so he must've obtained them some other way.

_That's another point against him._

Once she had the gloves on, she flexed her fingers to see how the material moved. They were ginormous on her, but she could handle them enough to climb a ladder. Hopefully.

She curled her hands around the bottom rung and began the short ascent. It was surprisingly difficult because of her back, so she had to stop twice. During these tiny intervals, Jack would yell at her to hurry the hell up, to which she glared and told him to stop rushing her or she'd move even slower. By the time she made it out of the tunnels, he was furious.

"How long," he ground out as she closed the metal covering, "does it take to climb a _ladder_?"

"I've got a back injury, buddy. You're lucky I was able to do it at all." She ripped the gloves off her hands, throwing them savagely at his chest. He wanted to act like barbarians, then that's exactly what she would do. There was no way he was getting any respect from her. Fear and slight obedience, yes. But not respect.

"Just don't lag anymore," he said, shoving the gloves back in his pack. "We're gonna be late as it is."

"How tragic."

Instead of getting in her face more, Jack simply pinched the bridge of his nose and began walking. Tooth grinned to herself. This guy was really easy to tick off, which made it fun for her. Granted, she knew she couldn't push him too far just in case he snapped, but he seemed to be holding himself back so she'd remain alive. This was really good for her well-being.

As they travelled, she slowly began to realize that she didn't recognize the part of the city they were in. She had no idea if it was anywhere close to where she was yesterday, or if it was really far away from anywhere she'd been. It caused her skin to crawl with nervousness. She didn't like being in unknown areas.

She stayed relatively close behind Jack, noting the way he moved expertly through the crowd. It kind of looked like he was walking slower than he normally would, for his shoulders were hunched with a bit of impatience. Of course, that could just be because of her presence, but you never knew.

While she stared at his back, she realized this was the first time she really _saw _him. The bright, late morning light was much better than the candles they were using in the tunnels. The dark blue of his long-sleeved shirt was richer than what she initially thought, and his pants were actually brown instead of black like she believed they were. The shoes he wore were thick, to protect him from the iron, and unnaturally stiff. It made her think he didn't wear them unless he was navigating the human realm.

Which raised another question. Why _was _he here? There were some faeries who held an abnormal liking for this world, but they were rare. The ones who were part of that group, though, were usually Unseelie, so it would fit. But still. She didn't think he looked the type.

Also, he couldn't be an exile. The Unseelie didn't do that to their criminals. They were either imprisoned in Avalon or killed.

Tooth pursed her lips, debating whether or not to ask him about it. He'd probably glare or have a smartass comeback, but it shouldn't hurt to try.

"So," she started, navigating her way to stand beside him, "what are you doing in New York anyway?"

Jack glanced at her briefly before continuing staring straight ahead. "I have some business here."

How ominous. "What kind of business?"

"It's actually what we're doing now," he said, his voice hard. "You'll find out in a minute."

"It had nothing to do with the redcaps, then," she mused. The thought had just popped into her head, remembering what happened the night before.

"No." His tone was sharp, a warning going through the single syllable. Even though it was quite evident that he did not want her continuing this conversation, Tooth ignored it. She was curious, and with her ever-working mind, quenching her curiosity is what she loved to do the most. Even if it got her in trouble.

She looked at him, cocking her head. "Then you ran into them here, right? Because I know you were after them, chasing them like that. What was it they had? Some kind of ring. . . ?"

Jack stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, turning on her. His face was frightening, a darkness passing behind his eyes. He grabbed the tops of her arms, pulling her to him so their noses were almost touching. Cold radiated off where he touched her, causing her to shiver. In a normal circumstance, Tooth would've blushed madly, for finally seeing his face in the bright light let her see how . . . attractive he was. But this wasn't a normal circumstance, and Tooth's eyes slightly widened in trepidation. His lip curled as he hissed, "Do _not _mention that ring. Ever."

She swallowed, mentally yelling at her heart to slow down. Trying to seem less fazed than she actually was, she grinned slightly. "Okay, got it. Forbidden subject."

"Damn right," he said huskily, blue eyes shining with malice. He glared at her for a minute more, in which Tooth thought she would die from the tension, before roughly shoving her away. He continued his walk without looking back.

That had definitely been a mistake. Tooth rubbed her hands over her arms, trying to bring warmth to where his hands were. A little bit of frost was actually stuck to her skin. Well, that fit his name disturbingly well.

If she had known the subject was so touchy, she wouldn't have said anything in the first place. She wasn't stupid. Still, his reaction surprised her in the worst possible way. He truly was unpredictable.

Now she knew. When it came to Jack, she would have to tread carefully. She'd never met someone with such a contradictory personality, and it was bizarre dealing with it.

Besides, she wanted to stay alive and well until she could ditch his ass and go home. That thought was what anchored her, giving her hope that everything could still turn around. It's not like she was a helpless, weak little girl. She knew how to fight, how to behave in testy situations. Granted, him pushing her buttons threw behaving professionally completely out the window, but she would still be able to fight once she was back to her old self. If the bastard hadn't taken her swords, she might've been able to take him down already.

Ha, yeah right. She still wouldn't be able to. She had to use her back muscles to control the things after all.

Jack suddenly took a sharp turn down an alley, making Tooth pay more attention to where she was going instead of getting lost in her thoughts _again. _That was seriously something she needed to work on. It could get her killed one day.

_I'm freaking sick of alleys, _she thought to herself as they walked down the dank path. Her shoes stuck to the ground in spots where things had spilled. She crinkled her nose, grossed out, but continued to watch where Jack was going.

When he stopped in front of a blank brick wall, she cast him a dubious look. Unless there was a statue of a woman that revealed a secret passage like the ones for criminals, she was pretty sure this was just a wall.

Noticing her expression, Jack rolled his eyes and pressed his finger onto a brick. It momentarily lit up then sank back into the wall, leaving a small hole. The hole became wider, revealing a claustrophobic hallway into some unknown destination. Tooth fought the urge to scream; she was really ticked off that everything had to be TINY. Hadn't they ever considered how uncomfortable that made faeries who _flew?! _ She sure as hell would never come into the city ever again, even if North tried to guilt trip her.

"It only opens to a fey's touch," he muttered as he walked in, Tooth following close behind. She was actually grateful for the explanation, though she kind of figured that was how it worked. "Whatever you do," he continued harshly, "do _not _say a word. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah I'll be quiet." Frankly, the tight space was taking words right out of her mouth. It felt like if she talked then all the air would be sucked out of the area and she would suffocate.

Jack didn't respond, but she could tell how tense he was.

Finally, they reached the end of the hall and stood in front of an old wooden door. He pushed it open, allowing them to be engulfed with dim, ghostly light.

Tooth looked around his shoulder to see what she was getting into . . . and almost screamed in terror. Whatever she'd been expecting, it wasn't this.

Not in the slightest.


	4. In the Black Market

**A/N: Chapter 4! Done!**

**A big, big shout out to everyone who has favorite, followed, and reviewed on this. Seeing the feedback and support gives me motivation to keep writing, so thank you!**

**This chapter was so much fun to write. I love describing gritty and grungy settings; they're my favorite.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**_"Making a mess just to clean it up later. . . . Making a mess." – Company of Thieves, "Look Both Ways"_**

The smell hit her first.

The terrible, terrible smell of rotting flesh and spilled blood that had never been properly cleaned. That coupled with the stench of dark magic potions that most likely caused imminent death caused her stomach to turn even before she saw the horrors within the room.

The light was a dim blue, but it was enough for her to be able to see the numerous corpses covering the walls and ceiling, blood dripping from each body. There were shelves lining the room, jars containing preserved bodies and potions upon them. There wasn't anyone in there, just an empty counter containing shrunken heads and jars of bloody, sharp teeth.

Tooth had to bite down on her tongue to keep the scream in her throat from breaking through. Jack told her to be silent, and she had a feeling that if she weren't, she'd be the next corpse to line the walls. She'd grill him about _why the hell they were there _after they were far away from the disturbing place.

Jack walked in, placing a finger to his lips as he glared at her. Telling her to not talk once was enough; he didn't need to remind her, especially in a place like this. So, giving him her best "no shit" look, she followed him into the literal hell hole.

He went up to the counter, knocking lightly against the old wood. Tooth stood slightly behind him, eyeing the jar of teeth sadly. She had a special gift no other fey possessed: She could see others' memories through their lost teeth. Most of the time, it was wonderful. The memories tended to be happy, with an occasional violent one here and there, but nothing horrendous. It also came in handy if someone needed cheering up or she had to find out information about them.

But the way these teeth looked, she didn't want to know of the memories hidden within them. They were probably more violent than anything she'd seen before. The blood and gums swirled around the brown teeth like some sick bath water, and it made her nausea even worse. She swallowed hard, forcing her eyes away from the disturbing sight. She just had to breathe through her mouth and not look at anything, then she'd be fine. There was just one problem.

If she couldn't focus on anything, then where would she position her eyes? She glanced down at the floor, thinking that would be safe, but then noticed that it was coated with a thick layer of grime and blood. Yeah, never mind.

She snapped her eyes up, allowing them to rove over the room to find a safe place to stop. There were a couple cages hanging from the ceiling, will-o-the-wisps floating within them. So _that's _where the blue light came from. Interesting.

If interesting meant horribly disturbing.

Dizzy and frustrated, she decided to just stare straight ahead at Jack's back. His bag was slung over his right shoulder, thumping against the dark blue fabric of his tunic. Upon closer inspection, she noticed white patterns decorating his shirt, not made of thread but formed by ice. He was literally covered in _ice._

She was beginning to wonder if his name really was "Jack Frost" or if he made it up just to be witty.

After what felt like hours, footsteps came out of a back room, pounding noisily up to the counter. "You're late," a rough, deep voice said.

"I had some setbacks," Jack responded, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at Toothiana who, despite herself, looked around him at the man behind the counter.

He wasn't as terrible as she was expecting. He was a short man with a long, white beard, dirty red coat, and a brown hat. He was stout, but more in a muscular than a chubby sense. _Must be a dwarf, _she thought, tilting her head at his irritated scowl.

Following where Jack was pointing, his eyes settled on Tooth. They were cold and gleamed with a terrifying hunger. "Got yourself a pet, eh? She wouldn't happen to, ah, be for sale, would she?"

Tooth suddenly wished that she could be part of the shadows, or at least blend in. Her bright hair and clothing, however, would never allow such a thing. As it were, she found herself scooting a little further behind Jack.

"No," Jack said forcefully. "I'm only here for our previous arrangement. Nothing more."

"Shame," the dwarf muttered grumpily. "The last girl I sold was a tough one. She kept singing and talking to animals. Bit of a nutcase, really. No one wanted her."

Jack rolled his eyes. "That's _really _unfortunate, but I think we should continue with our appointment."

"Yes, fine. You got the money?"

"Depends." Jack crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. "You got the staff?"

The dwarf snorted irritably. "You're not at liberty to try that, kid."

"Considering you're the one who took it from me in the first place, I'd say I'm perfectly in line."

"You're the one who lost it. I just found it."

Jack pondered on this for a moment, his eyes so narrowed they looked like slits. After a few seconds, he shrugged. "Yeah, you got a point." He swung his pack over his shoulder, dug around, and took out a handful of faerie coins. He held them out, just short of the dwarf's reach. "Fifteen silver pieces as agreed."

The dwarf leaned forward, counting the coins under his breath. "Very good. I'll go get the staff," he grumbled, hopping off what was supposedly a stool and heading back into the other room. The door swung shut behind him.

Tooth was itching to ask questions, but she kept her mouth shut. With the way that man eyed her, she was certain that anything she'd say would result in her imprisonment and she'd be sold as a slave. She didn't know much about the underground slave trade, but she knew it was bad news. Most girls barely lasted a few months before their dead bodies were found, mainly from suicide. The ones who didn't take their lives tried to escape, usually resulting in their owners finding and murdering them. In the faerie world, murder was never done neatly. No, if a faerie was killed, it was prolonged and brutal. She felt terrible for all the females who were sold to this, and she had no desire to put herself into that situation. And guess what.

The underground trade was _always _through the Unseelies. Granted, Seelies had their own black market, but at least it wasn't selling females into slavery.

"You okay?" Jack whispered, tilting his head a little so he could see her.

Startled, she jumped, not expecting him to talk, nonetheless question about her wellbeing. She nodded silently, careful not to make eye contact.

He stared at her for a moment before saying, "I won't let him touch you, okay? As much of a thorn in my side as you are, I'm not selling you."

She nodded again, this time actually looking at his face. It was pretty much expressionless, but a hard anger was seen through his eyes. He continued staring at her for another second before giving her a forced grin and turning his head back around.

That was bizarre. She didn't really know how to take it. . . . In fact, she didn't really understand this Unseelie at all. It drove her insane.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it, though, for the dwarf came back into the room. A large shepherd's hook was in his hand, appearing rather comical with his short stature. He climbed back onto the stool, steadied himself, and faced Jack.

The two stared at each other, eyeing what was in the other's hand. There was a huge lack of trust between them, which Tooth completely understood. The dwarf was shady and Jack looked like a punk; how could either one trust the other to not backstab him?

Jack clenched his fist around the coins, turning his hand palm-down and holding it out to the dwarf. He glared at the staff, and the dwarf held it out for Jack to take. At the same time, Jack grabbed the staff and opened his fist, the silver coins falling into the dwarf's palm. He backed away from the counter quickly, getting the staff out of the dwarf's reach.

The owner of the shop gave Jack a dubious look, but that disappeared after he counted the faerie money. "All here," he mumbled, slipping it into his coat pocket.

"I don't play tricks when it comes to serious business," Jack responded coldly, inspecting the staff in his hands. His brow furrowed. "Unlike you, apparently."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't project my magic through this." Jack glanced at the dwarf out of the corner of his eye, his expression furious. "So you either gave me the _wrong staff_, or you fucked mine up."

Tooth's eyes widened as the short man smiled wickedly. "Very good, boy," he said slowly.

Jack moved toward the counter again, getting right in the dwarf's face. "What did you do?" he growled.

"Relax, your staff's perfectly fine. The price just went up on it is all."

"What the hell does that mean?"

The malicious man focused on Tooth, the gluttonous gleam back in his eyes. "It means if you want your staff, then you have to trade _her_."

Tooth did her best to remain expressionless, but her heart was racing a million miles an hour. At least with Jack, she had a chance to escape once her wings were healed. The slave trade was completely different. . . .

"Yeah, I don't think so." Jack grabbed the front of the dwarf's red coat, clenching it with all his strength. "We had a deal, buddy. We shook on it. And you know what happens when you break a deal with a faerie."

The dwarf laughed, the sound grating and terrible. "The curse don't work on me. Should've mentioned that, huh?"

"It applies to your race," Jack insisted, looking confused. "At least, it should. It's the rule for everyone else."

"Oh, it works on dwarves all right, just not me. I know my way around these faerie tricks." He eyed Jack smugly, causing the latter's nostrils to flare.

Tooth knew exactly what was going on. If you made a deal with a faerie, you had to follow through. If you didn't, you died. Simple as that. It takes a while for the curse to work, enough time to redeem your mistake if you wished, but most ended up dead from breaking the deal. With how this dwarf was talking, Tooth assumed he had some kind of charm that countered the curse, meaning any deal he made with a faerie was pretty much worthless. He didn't have to follow through on his promises.

Jack's expression grew darker before he grinned, the look sending shivers down Tooth's spine. "You're resourceful, I'll give you that," he said, dropping the staff to the ground. "But you're forgetting one minor detail."

"Really? What's that?"

Jack's grin grew. "Just because the curse can't kill you doesn't mean _I _can't."

The dwarf's eyes widened a fraction, just enough to betray his true emotions.

"So here are your options: Give me my staff and let the girl stay with me, or you die."

The dwarf, however, lifted his chin and spit in Jack's face. "I don't respond to threats," he said. "I'd rather be killed."

"So be it, then."

"WAIT!"

The two men's heads snapped around, their eyes widening at Tooth in utter disbelief. She barely understood why she had shouted, but she got their attention.

Jack recovered first. "I thought I told you to be quiet."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't really apply right now," she said hurriedly, anxiously wringing her hands. "I just . . . There's got to be a way to do this without killing anyone."

The dwarf glared at Jack. "You better control your pets better, boy. This one's talking out of turn."

Jack ignored him, but Tooth bristled with anger. How dare he call her someone's pet! That bastard. . . .

"Look," Jack said, staring hard at her. "I need what I came here for. He won't give it to me without me trading you. I'm not seeing any other option."

Tooth bit her lip, thinking. The way he put it made it seem like they were in a hole and they had no choice. But there was always a choice. Always.

She looked around the dirty room, trying to avert her gaze from anything too disturbing. "We could always just bind him," she said. "Tie him and put him in a room somewhere. That way he won't do anything but he'll be alive."

"I'm still here, you know," the dwarf muttered grumpily, crossing his arms.

"Shut it." Jack kept his eyes on Tooth, secretly agreeing with her opinion. It made sense, as long as they kept him away from anything he could use. Otherwise, the dwarf would somehow get help or escape with Jack's staff, and they'd be screwed.

He pretended to think for a moment, keeping his expression hard, not wanting Toothiana to know how fast he'd liked the solution. Frankly, he felt like an idiot for not thinking of it himself (it was extremely simple and _everyone did it_), but he'd lost his head. That staff was seriously important, and he wanted the dwarf to pay for his betrayal. . . .

Oh, well. It was better not to kill anyway. He was never fond of it; sometimes, though, it was a necessity. Like with those damn redcaps.

Tooth watched Jack tensely, holding her breath. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but he appeared to be angry, for his brows were turned down and his mouth was set in a bitter line. Suddenly, he sighed. "Fine," he muttered. "We'll tie him up."

She let the air escape her lungs, relieved. But she didn't have time to dwell on it. Pushing down her disgust of the area and the pain in her back, she straightened, getting down to business. "Where should we put him?"

"You're not putting me anywhere, you b—"

Jack cut off the dwarf by shoving a cloth in his mouth and grasping his wrists, pulling them behind his back. This happened in the blink of an eye, and it took Tooth a moment to realize what happened. He moved _fast._

"I'll figure it out," Jack responded to Tooth, swinging his pack over his shoulder so he could dig through it. After a second, he pulled out some rope and set to binding the dwarf's hands together.

Tooth knit her brows, curious. If Jack really were as ruthless as he seemed, she doubted he would agree to do this. Either he wasn't all that bad, or he had strategic reasons for changing his mind that were beyond her. The second seemed to make more sense, and she chose that as an explanation for his strange behavior.

Maybe that was why he switched moods so frequently, too. There was probably some big plan he had that she was completely unaware of, and everything was just a way to get to the final result.

Yeah, okay, she could work with that. At least she wouldn't be nearly as confused about him as before. It wasn't even important if she were right or not. Keeping her sanity was really all that mattered right now.

Tooth stared as Jack picked the dwarf up, carrying him over his shoulder into the back room. She followed, trying not to giggle at how the dwarf kicked his legs in protest. It was a rather comical site, even in these conditions.

The back room looked pretty much the same as the front one, except messier and filled with more items. Jack tightened his grip on the tradesman, turned to Tooth, and said, "We need to find my staff. It looks exactly like the one he gave me."

Tooth raised a brow. "You trust me to look for it?"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't get ahead of yourself. I just don't have much time."

"You're still trusting me with this." She crossed her arms, smiling brightly. "Good for you, Jack. Good for you."

He glared hard at her, but decided to ignore it. Probably because of his urgency to find the staff. Tooth wondered what could possibly be so important about a freaking stick.

She shrugged, letting it drop in her mind. She began searching for the long shepherd's hook, peering around all the stuff in the room. Most of the items were in boxes, but some were tossed haphazardly onto the ground. There were random pieces of pottery, potion ingredients, limbs from creatures, and other eclectic items scattered about. When she came to one box, she noticed that the bottom was darker than the top. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was blood and that it had dripped onto the floor. . . .

And she was stepping in it.

And it was soaking through her shoe.

_Ew, ew, ew, _she thought, backing quickly away. She covered her mouth with her hand so she wouldn't scream and piss Jack off.

Seriously, was it really that difficult to keep blood from spilling everywhere? Just from a shopkeeper's point of view, she wouldn't want it to mix in with any of the other items. Especially not potion ingredients.

And considering this was a black market, the customers would probably kill if their stuff was defective and didn't work. It seemed dangerous to be this careless.

Whatever. To each his own.

Or something like that.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts and getting back to her search. Her back ached as she kept bending down to get a better look at the floor in the dim light. Her wing especially screamed in protest, but she had to keep moving. This place really didn't sit well with her, and she could tell Jack was in a terrible mood and didn't want to push it by taking forever. Although, at the rate she was going, he'd probably find the staff first anyway.

She decided to head into the back of the room, letting Jack essentially have the front to himself (and the dwarf). Feeling like this search was hopelessly futile, she began peering at the numerous boxes and other crap once more. Her eyes swam and burned from the monotony of the task, but she just rubbed at them to lessen the irritation.

North came to the front of her mind as she looked around, and a pang of sadness tore at her heart. She wondered what and how he was doing. Was he worried? Did he go to others to help search for her? Did he even make it back to the portal? There was a chance, however slim, that he got held up by something as well and neither went to their rendezvous and both were worried sick about what the other was doing a—

Tooth's thoughts were cut off as her foot hit something on the floor. Startled, she bent down to see what it was.

The object before her was something thin, rough, and wooden. She picked it up with the tips of her fingers, surprised at its length. She looked down both its sides.

Her eyes widened as a triumphant smile spread across her face.

"Found it!" she called, jumping up to her feet and waving the stick in the air.

Jack turned toward her voice, the corners of his mouth twitching up. He hurried to the back of the room, not saying a word.

Why did he always have to be so moody?

When he reached her, he ripped the staff out of her hands, weighing it in his palm. Tooth scowled. "Don't have to be so rude about it," she said hotly.

"You're not the one carrying a grumpy dwarf on your shoulder." His voice was hard, but his expression didn't mirror its irritation. In fact, he almost looked . . . happy. He wasn't smiling or anything, but his eyes were wide and bright with an overt relief.

Slowly, he brought the end of his staff down into contact with the floor. Tooth watched as ice sprouted from the wood, forming beautiful crystalline patterns over the blood and grime. It was quite amazing to see, actually. But she'd never admit that to him.

"It's good to have this back," he said, more to himself than to her. He straightened the staff in his hands and, almost simultaneously, dropped the dwarf unceremoniously to the ground. He landed with a grunt, glaring threateningly at Jack.

Jack shoved a hand into his pocket, raising an eyebrow at the dwarf. "Aw, don't look at me like that," he said playfully, leaning against his staff. "I'm letting you keep the money, aren't I?"

The dwarf grumbled into the fabric in his mouth, trying to get to his feet. Jack watched with what appeared to be amusement as he finally managed to stand up. He started running toward Jack, but the latter simply swung his staff so it came in contact with the dwarf's head, freezing him on the spot. His body balanced precariously for a moment before falling over.

Tooth looked on in bewilderment, especially when Jack turned on his heel and started walking away, acting as if he hadn't just randomly frozen a dwarf.

"What was _that?" _she asked, taking long strides to catch up to him.

"What was what?"

"You said you weren't going to kill him!"

"I didn't," he said, sounding utterly confused.

"I'm pretty sure freezing someone solid is as good as killing them." She finally reached him, putting a hand on his shoulder and forcing him to turn around.

He looked extremely annoyed. "First off, I didn't make the ice thick enough for him to die. Second," he said, slapping her hand away from his shoulder, "_never _touch me again."

"Won't he suffocate though?" she asked, completely ignoring his second statement. Okay, so touching was a huge no for him. She'd keep that in mind, but she honestly didn't really care about his preferences. He kept her in a gross, wet, abandoned room. She owed him nothing.

"It'll melt before then, so we should really get our asses moving." That said, he continued onward, his gait stiffer than before. Yeah, she'd really ticked him off.

Even so, he wasn't going after her or anything, so it's not like she exceeded her limitations.

She stared at his back, thinking about how oddly playful he was right before he froze grumpy back there. Though she now had a theory behind his bipolarity, it was just so bizarre how he could go from acting like a relatively normal being to behaving more irritable than North when he was hungry . . . which was pretty darn irritable, mind you.

They reached the front door, and as Jack was opening it, footsteps were heard racing toward them.

"Shit," Jack muttered, stepping over the threshold and into the tunnel.

Tooth ran behind him, slamming the door shut. They sprinted down the dark passage, the pain in her back bringing tears to her eyes. When they finally emerged into the alley, her heart was racing and her breath came in short, painful gasps.

"Wh-What now?" she huffed, bracing herself against her knees.

Jack ground his teeth, deliberating over something. She honestly hurt too much to care about his internal conflict, so she focused her attention on getting air back into her lungs.

"I'm gonna ask you to do something that'll completely contradict what I told you earlier," he said, his words coming out in a rush.

"Okay, fine."

"This is the _only time _I'm allowing this," he continued, staring pointedly at her. "And it's just because it's an emergency."

"Jack, I really don't care what it is. Let's just go," she said a little harshly. They didn't have time for idle chit chat.

He looked peeved that she used his name, but he shook it off. She continued leaning against her knees until she felt an arm wrap around her lower back. She stiffened, looking up at Jack's very uncertain expression. "Grab onto the staff," he said shortly. "I doubt you'd be able to keep a good hold on it with your injury, so I'll support your back."

She straightened slowly, reaching her hands out to hold onto the rough wood. His hand was extremely cold against her waist, and she was _very _aware of how close they were. "I thought I wasn't allowed to touch you," she muttered despite herself, knowing full well that this was a rare exception he was making for a crappy situation.

"I _just said _this was going to be contradictory." He glared, pulling the staff closer to him.

"I know, don't need to get all defensive." Tooth glanced at him, wondering what it was they were about to do. Last she checked, ice couldn't make portals appear or anything. Were they going to skate away from the dwarf? The mental image that sprung to her mind was rather comical, causing a giggle to escape from her mouth.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Don't question what you already know. It's annoying," he said, bending his knees. "On the count of three, then.

"One. . . ."

Tooth mimicked his position, still not sure what exactly was going to happen.

"Two. . . ."

She tightened her hold on the staff.

"Three!"

Jack pushed off from the ground, sending them both flying into the air.

Tooth's body became rigid, waiting for them to fall back down. But they didn't. In fact, they seemed to be going higher and faster as cold wind whipped around them.

She blinked in confusion, not quite understanding. It was like they were flying. . . .

No, they were _actually_ flying. Definitely. But how? Jack didn't have wings, and it's not like ice or snow could lift objects into the air and have them defy gravity. It was almost as if the wind were pushing against their bodies, causing them to fly through the summer air.

Wait, hang on. It was _summer. _So why was the wind around them so cold?

Then, suddenly, it was like the answer collided with her brain. It was so freaking simple.

Jack could control the wind, and since he was an Unseelie with ice powers, it was probably only frigid winds he was able to command. She felt rather stupid again. You'd think with all the times she acted like an airhead, she'd be used to it. But she wasn't, and she doubted she ever would be.

The cold air bit her cheeks and nose, causing her to shiver. She was actually really thankful for Jack's hand on her waist, for she knew her grip was not strong enough to keep her hanging on without any assistance. Her back muscles were too sensitive for that much upper body strain at the moment.

They flew for only a few minutes, but by the time they landed in a grassy field, the city was far behind them. When Tooth looked in the direction of the iron town, she could just barely make out hazy outlines of the multistory buildings. They were miles upon miles away from it, giving them more than enough distance to be safe from the angered dwarf.

"How did we get out here so fast?" she asked as Jack quickly released her waist and put a good five feet between them.

He grinned, twirling his staff. "It's the wind. If I really want to, I can go from Russia to the States in under twenty minutes."

Tooth gaped, jealousy knotting her stomach. She wished _she _could fly that fast.

His smile faded as he walked around the area, his thumb playing with a ring on his left index finger. The ring that the redcaps stole and was a completely forbidden topic of conversation.

This boy had some serious issues.

"There's a portal around here somewhere," he muttered to himself, slowly circling the large field.

That caught Tooth's attention. She whipped her head around. "Portal? As in, Faerie Path? We're going back to Avalon?"

His eyebrows raised at her string of questions. "Yeah. I don't like being in the human world more than necessary."

"I'm assuming you won't let me go home, either," she said, her words trailing off a bit at the look on Jack's face.

It was the biggest "no shit" expression she'd ever seen.

She sighed. "Yeah, I thought as much."

"Don't look so sad. No one likes a whiner."

Her downtrodden posture changed into one of fury. Okay, this jerk was asking for it. "You're not that great either, you know," she snapped, scowling.

He kept pacing around in a circle, not even looking at her. "Keep telling yourself that. Whatever makes you feel better."

"I'm not doing it to make myself _feel better_," she fumed. "You're just a cocky, bipolar, selfish bastard."

"Am I, now?" he asked, stopping his pacing and turning toward her.

"Yeah, you are." Saying all this actually _was _making her feel better. She didn't do well when she bottled up her emotions like she'd been doing for the past day.

He walked over to her, putting his face uncomfortably close to hers. "Well," he said, his voice low, "you're an obnoxious bitch who needs to learn her place."

Oh, that little. . . .

She opened her mouth to respond with what essentially was a long string of curse words, but he cut her off. "I found the portal. We should go."

He turned away from her, going over to a spot that looked exactly like all the other spots in the damn field. "Jackass," Tooth mumbled under her breath, taking a long time to get over to him just so he'd get impatient and frustrated. The bastard deserved it.

When she reached the area, Jack's jaw clenched, his eyes staring straight ahead. He poked his staff at the air in front of him, causing the light to ripple and a black circle to appear. He stepped through, and Tooth was close behind.

Little pinpricks of light illuminated the darkness once they were completely inside, and Jack grabbed the orb near him and tossed it to a light Tooth had never used before. It must be the one that leads to part of the Unseelie realm.

Nervousness settled in her stomach. She couldn't even imagine how cold it must be there, and how dangerous. She wasn't exactly going with the best company, either, but at least he could stand the ice and snow.

When the orb landed on the distant light, Jack and Tooth were tugged toward it, and Tooth shut her eyes to brace herself.

Instead of landing gracefully like she usually did, Tooth fell flat on her face when they emerged from the Path. Part of the reason for this was because of her back injury, another was her hesitance for going into a cold climate, and the last was the irritating faerie boy standing beside her.

To make matters worse, he started laughing.

_Laughing._

And it wasn't a happy-go-lucky laugh, either. It was harsh, bitter, and just plain cruel. It was like he made it a point for her to know he was laughing _at _her, not even remotely with her.

She pushed her hands against the cold snow, forcing herself up. Once she was completely standing, she brushed the wet snow off her dress and hair, shivering.

Jack was still laughing, his eyes revealing the cruelty behind his mirth. When she glared at him, he just laughed harder. "Serves you right," he said after a few moments, finally calming down.

She really did not feel like getting into that again. "You know how you said you weren't a sadist?" she asked.

"Of course."

"That's a fucking lie."

He shook his head, resting his staff on his shoulder. "Nah, it's not."

"Then why were you laughing?"

"Because," he said, his mouth curling into a feral smile, "that was karma at its absolute finest."

She blinked in disbelief. Un-freaking-believable. "If karma were working, it'd be aimed towards you."

He shrugged. "We'll just keep going round in circles at this rate," he said. "I don't have the patience for that right now."

"You started it," Tooth pointed out, refusing to back down. If North were here, she'd probably just have him intimidate Jack until he left her alone.

North. . . .

No, she would not—could not—think about that right now. There were more pressing matters at hand.

"You're the one who fell," he shot back, that smile still on his lips. When he saw Tooth staring at the falling snow, completely ignoring him, he frowned a bit. He wondered what was going through her mind.

Of course, she did hear his comeback. And she really wanted to say something so clever that it would have him shut his damn mouth. But she thought better of it. When North crossed her mind, she realized that he would've thought her childish if she continued the heated banter. And here or not, she didn't want to disappoint North.

Besides, she had something very convenient to distract her. Snow.

She'd never seen snow before, being a summer faerie and all. She hadn't even seen ice prior to noticing it on Jack's tunic. Despite how cold and uncomfortable it made her, the frozen precipitation was actually quite beautiful. It wasn't colorful or full of life like the summer plants, but it had its own quality that made it purely unique.

And she kind of loved it.

"So," she started, eyes still glued to the sky, "where are we going now?"

Jack moved toward her, cocking his head curiously at her thoughtful tone. "A tavern," he replied.

Tooth shot him a look, snorting. That was the last response she was expecting.

He looked indignant at her reaction. "What?" he snapped. "I'm allowed to get hungry."

The thought of the faerie who was holding her captive being _hungry _was a little too much for her to handle. She put a hand to her mouth and laughed silently, shutting her eyes and hunching over. This lasted for a minute or two, all of the stress she'd been under finally bubbling forth into something like hysteria.

The irritating arguments she'd gotten into with Jack had made her already on-edge emotions become more moody, and they apparently took revenge by transforming into hysterics. She was sure that Jack wouldn't be at all pleased with her outburst, but she had absolutely no control over it. It was her turn to laugh at him.

He should consider it payback for his sadism.

Finally, she was able to remove her hand from her mouth, and she took in deep breaths of icy air. The chill made her throat hurt, causing her to cough as the hysteria went completely away.

"Done?" Jack asked, his voice emotionless.

"Yeah," she responded, rubbing at the tears in her eyes.

He glared hard at her. "Don't do that again," he said coldly, his blue eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly.

"Whatever you say."

"Good." He stepped back from her, putting his staff back on his shoulder. It seemed like that was a habit of his, one that had been with him for a long time. Tooth vaguely wondered how long he'd had that wooden staff. . . .

His eyes flicked to her, looking her up and down. She flinched against the scrutiny, wary of his thoughts. For all she knew, he was figuring out how to best leave her in the snow to freeze to death. That way, he wouldn't be killing her directly, but there'd be no way for her to survive. It seemed right up his alley.

Suddenly, he let out a sharp breath and shoved his hand into his bag. He dug around for a second, then pulled out the blue cloak she'd seen earlier in the underground tunnels.

"Here," he said, tossing it to her.

She caught it clumsily, hands numb from the cold. Not sure what he wanted her to do with it, she simply scrunched her brows together as she glanced at him.

"Put it on," he elaborated, gesturing at the cloak with his staff. "You'll freeze to death otherwise."

She stared at him, dumbfounded, but obliged. As she draped the thick material around her shoulders, her confusion grew. Guess he didn't want her dead after all. "Thanks," she said, a small grin playing around her lips.

"I'm not doing it out of kindness, so don't thank me." He turned, making it a point to not look at the small summer faerie beside him. "Let's go," he said quietly, and he began hiking up the steep hill in front of him.

Tooth trudged next to him, not wanting to follow like she'd been doing. They had plenty of room now, so there was no need for her to form a single-file line behind him.

As they walked through the deep snow, she fingered the dark blue material wrapped around her body. It was obvious now that he truly did think she'd eventually be useful. What that usefulness was for, she didn't know.

And she genuinely wished she never would.


	5. Recluse

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm still alive! My teachers have been trying very hard to squash my life outside of schoolwork, but to no avail! WE SHALL OVERCOME! Anyway, thanks to everyone who has commented/favorited/followed this story. I love you all so much. *hugs***

**This chapter isn't overly exciting, but it has some important plot and character elements. I hope you enjoy! **

* * *

**_"The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only."—Joseph Wood Krutch_**

The snow grew thicker the further they walked into the Unseelie realm, cold wind whipping snowflakes at their faces and eyes. Tooth's hair flew around every which way, though it was kept from her face thanks to the hood from Jack's cloak. Still, she was shivering fiercely, mainly because her body wasn't built to withstand these kinds of temperatures.

Jack, however, was in his element. His walk was much more carefree than in New York, one hand shoved into his pocket and the other resting on his staff. He'd kicked off his shoes after about two minutes of them walking, so his bare feet kept sinking into the deep snow. Tooth thought this odd; even if he were completely comfortable in subzero temperatures, why would he ever want to walk around _barefoot_? It didn't make sense.

It did, however, make him seem very . . . casual. Just the fact that he decided to not wear shoes made Tooth think that he really didn't care about appearances or proper procedures. He only seemed to care about things that benefitted him, like getting his staff, taking his ring back from the redcaps, and holding her captive so she wouldn't rat on him to Mimeron.

That still irked her. She didn't have close relations with the King! It's not like she could go to him and tell him that she saw some Unseelie faerie named Jack Frost in New York. He was a busy ruler who didn't really have the time to see random faeries like her.

Okay, she wasn't necessarily _random. _She and North were pretty high up on the Seelie list, and Mim did trust them to do important tasks that wouldn't be left with other fey. Like checking up on the criminals. But they never talked to him directly. No one did, really, besides Sanderson.

Tooth sighed, frustrated, watching as her breath steamed in front of her. This was a new sensation, and she found it extremely intriguing. She liked how the vapor swirled into loops and slowly dissolved into the cold air. It reminded her of smoke from a fire.

Both of them were silent while they traveled, Jack still obviously frustrated from their earlier arguments. Tooth would usually feel bad about this, but since they both equally participated in the fights, she held no remorse.

When it felt like they had been traveling for hours with no sign of civilization, though, she decided to break the tense silence.

"Where's this tavern?" she asked, panting a little from keeping up with Jack's long strides.

"We're almost there." He looked down at her, smirking. "Getting a little antsy, huh?"

"A little," she admitted, pulling the cloak tighter around her cold body.

Jack blinked, scrutinizing her with intense blue eyes. It made Tooth extremely uncomfortable, so she shifted her gaze to the snowy ground beneath her feet. Oh, pretty snow, please distract her from the creepy faerie beside her. . . .

"Since we're gonna be in town," he began, speaking slowly, "we should probably get you warmer clothes."

"But I should be fine inside," she protested, not entirely trusting his motives on this one. She wasn't sure why, though. She knew by now that he wanted to keep her alive, but it was difficult to really believe that. Especially with the way he kept looking at her, like she was some piece of meat.

"These are _winter _fey," he pointed out. "We don't like heat."

"Your point?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's just as cold _inside _as it is outside."

She hadn't thought of that. "Makes sense," she muttered, wrapping the cloak tighter around her body. It really was freezing.

After about another ten minutes that felt like three hours of traveling, they entered a small village on the mountainside. There were some shops, taverns, and inns. But strangely enough, there weren't many faeries walking around. In fact, Tooth couldn't see any.

_Okay, that's weird, _she thought. In the Seelie realm, even the smallest towns were clustered with fey going about their daily business. Then again, hers were a rather flamboyant folk. She guessed she could see the reclusive Unseelie not spending much time outdoors if it weren't necessary. They liked to live in the shadows.

"Come on," Jack said suddenly, gesturing to a shop on their left. "We'll go in here first."

Tooth nodded, following him silently, nervousness creeping up within her. She hoped they wouldn't notice that she was a Seelie. There was tension between the two races, in case you haven't noticed, and they generally didn't take well to strangers in their lands.

When they walked in, Tooth let out a sigh of relief. Though the temperature wasn't any warmer, the building shielded them from the arctic winds. To her, that was enough. Her back was aching, so any minor warmth was welcome.

Jack made a beeline to the back of the shop, plucking up a fur-lined coat, long pants, and sturdy boots. Tooth barely had time to blink before he was standing in front of her once more, holding the clothing out for her to take.

After getting over her initial awe of _how fast the jerk moved_, she took the clothes, grinning softly at the coat. It reminded her of North. All of his coats and cloaks had fur on them.

"Will they fit?" Jack asked, adjusting the strap of his pack on his shoulder.

Tooth held the pants to her hips, doing her best to assess their size. Considering she never really wore pants ever, it was kind of difficult. Eventually, she shrugged, throwing them over her arm. "Yeah, they're fine."

Jack nodded, snatched them from her hands, and quickly went to buy them. Tooth smirked. She had an odd feeling that if the inside of buildings were about twenty degrees warmer, he wouldn't bother with this. He just didn't want her dead.

Also, if the shopkeeper weren't there, she'd bet her teeth that they would've walked out without bothering to pay. Luckily for Tooth, this was not the case. She wouldn't be able to live knowing she was wearing stolen goods. Things cost money for a reason.

When Jack was done, he ushered her outside, giving her the winter clothes. "Just put them on here," he said, and Tooth was more than willing to oblige. If she had to spend another second shivering her ass off, she'd go crazy.

First, she put the pants on underneath her dress, her legs grateful for the barrier against the cold. Then, she kicked off her blood-soaked flats, sinking her feet into the knee-high boots, where she found to her delight that they were lined with a thick fur. Lastly, she undid Jack's cloak and replaced it with the long, thick coat more suitable to keep in body heat. She gave the cloak back to Jack, muttering an almost inaudible thank you.

He simply shrugged at her, shoving the cloak unceremoniously into his pack. "Let's go," he said roughly, turning sharply away and heading for the adjacent building.

Tooth stared at him for a moment before following, her boots falling heavily into the snow with each step. She noticed that, as soon as they entered this empty village, Jack's stiffness returned. Granted, they weren't talking on their trek here, but still. He seemed more relaxed in the wide open areas, devoid of others. It made her feel nervous, for what kind of reasonable faerie would want to be alone all the time? But this wasn't her dominant emotion, as it should've been. No, she felt something else as well, and it took her by surprise.

She felt sad for him. Her instincts screamed at her that only dangerous people secluded themselves, but it just didn't seem right. This was complete nonsense, of course, but she couldn't stop the soft pang of sorrow within her chest. No one, not even lunatics, should be alone.

Her thoughts refocused once they walked into the small, run-down tavern. She couldn't afford to be distracted with her internal musings _again._

The inside of the pub was tight; dark; and very, very crowded. The first thing that popped into Tooth's head at this was if there were so many faeries in here, then why was the outside desolated? Maybe it was just an Unseelie thing.

Damn, they were bizarre.

Jack led her over to the counter, glancing behind him to make sure he hadn't lost her. When he did, Tooth glared. She wasn't a child. She could manage to not get lost in a tiny tavern.

They sat down on cold wooden stools, the lack of back support not being kind to Tooth. She was really sick of feeling like an invalid, but some things couldn't be changed. No matter how much they sucked.

"So . . . come here often?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Jack shot her an irritated look before saying, "No. I'm not partial to entering the village."

"I kinda figured." She dropped her elbows on the counter, resting her chin on her palms. Her eyes focused on what was in front of her, even though she continued talking to Jack. "You tensed up the second we saw it."

He blinked. Why the hell did she notice that? Baffled and slightly annoyed, he decided the best move right about now would be to ignore her last statement. So he did, and he ordered some random food from the barmaid.

Tooth glared, glancing at the bartender obviously flirting with Jack, who didn't even seem to register it. She stifled a laugh. Okay, she got peeved when people ignored her like he did just now, but the scene in front of her was kind of hilarious. The female faerie was leaning over the counter, taking full advantage of her low-cut shirt as she took Jack's order, but he didn't even look at her. He was playing with the ring on his finger as he spoke. When he finished, she stayed for a couple extra seconds in case he'd actually decide to look at her. After a moment, he did, but it was with a very impatient scowl accompanied by the words, "I'm not paying you to just stand there, wench."

The faerie's nostrils flared, and she turned swiftly on her heels, strutting away to keep some of her remaining dignity.

Tooth's suppressed laugh escaped her lips, and she brought up a hand to try and keep it contained. That resulted in her sounding like she was choking, but at least it wasn't as loud.

"What?" Jack asked, hearing her giggles.

Tooth shook her head, waving him off. "I-It's . . . nothing."

His eyes narrowed. "That definitely doesn't sound like nothing."

After her laughter ceased, she mentally rolled her eyes. The obliviousness of men. "That bartender's into you," she said quietly, feeling odd using that terminology with her kidnapper.

Jack stared at her a moment before chuckling himself. "Yeah, I'm aware of that, thanks."

"Wait—what?" Tooth gawked at him. "You completely ignored her! I thought you just didn't realize. . . . Damn, that was even ruder than I thought."

"It's easier to do that," he said with a calmness that annoyed Tooth to no end. "If you show any spark of interest, they'll never leave you alone. They're like leeches." He shuddered.

"That's not degrading at all," Tooth said dryly.

"Er . . . Toothiana?" he began, saying her name hesitantly, unsure if he was correct or not. "You're a faerie, right?"

"No shit," she snapped, not appreciating the way he said her name. Seriously, if you're gonna captivate someone, at least have the decency to make sure you know their name. Jeez.

"Then you know that we have _extremely _high lust levels." He held his arm up over his head, demonstrating the height. "And since we Unseelie are more violent than your prissy race, that level is even higher for us."

"Your point?" This conversation was quickly getting a little too awkward for her.

"My point is that if I led an Unseelie woman on, then her violent, lustful side would make damn sure that she'd get some. Whether I'm willing or not." Jack stared at Tooth, one eyebrow raised. "Get it now?"

"Yeah," she said, folding her hands over her lap. Okay, she shouldn't have brought up this subject. Then something popped into her mind. "Wait, why are you actually explaining this to me?"

A malicious grin spread over Jack's features. "I like seeing you squirm."

Tooth's jaw dropped. Did he just. . . ? Oh, that _bastard._

She raised her hand and went to slap him across his stupid, cocky face, but he caught at her wrist before she could make contact. "I wouldn't," he said very quietly, "do that if I were you."

His blue eyes were sharp, flashing dangerously in the dim lighting. Her breath caught in her throat, and her arm went limp. Feeling the change, he dropped her wrist, then turned to face forward once more.

Even though he threatened her, his attitude wasn't as angry as it had been before. His scowl left his face as soon as he turned away from her, so she figured that he wasn't that mad. But she was fuming.

How _dare _he talk to her like that? It made her skin crawl, and she just wanted to put him in his place. Every second she spent with him was another where she regretted going to New York with North even more. From now on, she'd stay in Avalon. Even if that meant not spending as much time with North. It was worth her freedom, safety, and—most importantly—her sanity.

The bartender came back with two plates of food. She slammed them down in front of Jack, not saying a word. Her gray eyes, however, showed how insulted she truly was. They flicked over to Tooth, where they drilled into her with overt jealousy, before going back to Jack as she walked away.

Tooth knitted her brows. That faerie honestly thought she was _with _Jack? She'd rather die than have that be the case. Yeah, okay, he was attractive, but that didn't make up for his serious personality flaws.

Jack smirked to himself, seeing Tooth's confused and slightly angry look out of the corner of his eyes. He then took the smaller plate of food and pushed it over to her.

She looked down at it, her confusion growing. "Wha—"

"You need to eat, too," he said, cutting her off. "Food is an essential part of not dying."

"Way to put an optimistic spin on it," she responded sarcastically, but she was actually kind of grateful. Her stomach growled painfully as she looked at the food. The dish appeared to be various types of meat, some brown vegetable things, and winter faerie fruit. A little heavy for her taste, but better than starving to death. She picked up the fork Jack placed next to the plate and began eating.

She grimaced a little as she tasted the meat, for it was basically bloody, it was so rare. But the rest wasn't too terrible. The sugar gave her renewed energy, and she ate faster and faster as she realized how hungry she really was. She hadn't eaten in about 36 hours. Give or take.

She finished all the food on her plate rather quickly. Granted, it wasn't that much, but she was still proud of herself as she put the last forkful in her mouth. She swallowed it without chewing much, the flavor not suiting her preferences. She then looked over at Jack to see him barely a quarter of the way through his meal, taking his sweet time with eat bite.

She sighed, bouncing her feet impatiently. She just wanted to _go. _Wherever he was taking her didn't really matter. This tavern, with its dim lighting and angry-looking guests, made her feel on edge.

As she twirled left and right on her stool, a group of male faeries came and sat beside her. They were all tall, thin, pale, and smelled like blood. She guessed that was common for Unseelies and she'd just have to get used to it. At least until her wings healed.

The faeries next to her were a rowdy bunch, snickering loudly with gravelly voices. She subconsciously leaned a little toward Jack, not liking their aura.

"Guess what I heard today," she heard the one closest to her say. His back was facing her, but his loud voice was clearly audible above the noise of the crowd. Curious, she tuned into their conversation, keeping her head down and hair over her face.

"This isn't about that damn girl again, is it?"

"No," the first said defensively amid the snickers of his group. "I told you, I was done with her."

"Sure ya are."

"Shut it. This is serious."

The group quieted, noticing the tone in the man's voice. "They're talking," he said quietly. "Saying he's planning a rebellion."

"Who?"

"Who do you think, idiots?"

There was a pause before the group all said, "Ohh."

"Yeah this news isn't exactly good."

"What? Why not?"

"Well—"

Tooth's hearing was cut off by Jack flicking at her hair with his staff. She whirled on him, startled.

He stared at her with amusement, a sly grin on his face. "Someone got lost in their own world."

She shook her head. "No, I was actually listening to them." She gestured at the faeries.

"Anything important?" he asked, his interest slightly piqued.

This took her by surprise. She was expecting him to either not care or yell at her for listening in on a conversation or something of the like. "They're talking about someone coming back. Raising a rebellion or something." She bit her lip. "The redcaps back in New York were talking about something similar, too. It might be related. I don't know."

Jack cocked his head, his eyes narrowed. Could it be. . . ? No, he hadn't been seen for hundreds of years. He was gone. But Jack couldn't risk it.

"Stay here," he muttered, standing up slowly. Tooth watched as he approached the group, tapping the one nearest her on the shoulder.

The guy turned quickly, his face anything but kind. He looked Jack up and down. "What do you want?"

"Couldn't help but overhear your conversation," Jack said casually, resting his staff over his shoulder.

The guy's eyes widened a moment before he caught his composure. "And?"

"Who're you talking about?"

"Can't say," he said gruffly, folding his arms across his chest.

Jack chuckled, raising his left hand. "All right, all right. It's better not to. We don't want the whole world knowing his plans."

The man stopped for a moment, his mouth hanging open almost comically. "You know about it."

Jack nodded solemnly. "Yeah, but not too much. I was just wondering if you could, ah, give me more details. If you have them."

The faerie looked around the tavern, making sure no one was listening. He gestured for Jack to come closer, and when the white-haired boy did, the man leaned close to his face. "We don't know much," he whispered, so quietly that it was very difficult for Tooth to hear. She pushed her hair behind her ears to let more sound in. "Just that there're rumors that he's back, and he's planning to raise an army of those who fought before. That's all I know."

"More than I did," Jack responded, taking a step back. He grinned at them, but it was very bitter. "This news took me by surprise when I first heard it."

"It did for all of us," the faerie said, returning Jack's bitter smile. "Hopefully we'll all survive."

"Yeah," Jack muttered, turning away from the large group. "Hopefully." Then he went to walk out of the tavern, leaving a confused Toothiana behind.

"Hey!" she shouted, getting carefully off her stool. He couldn't just leave her like that. And, unfortunately, she couldn't just ditch him and go on her own. She didn't know the way around the Unseelie realm, and she'd freeze to death if she got lost out there.

This world was just stock full of shitty circumstances.

She rushed out of the tavern. Well, she went as fast as her back allowed her. When she got outside, she looked around the snow-covered village before finding Jack standing by the clothing shop, staring at her.

She went over to him, scowling. The cold wind bit at her cheeks, but she decided to push it out of her mind for the time being.

"What the hell?" she asked viciously. "First you treat me like a child who's gonna get freaking kidnapped, and then you just leave me behind like yesterday's garbage. Make up your bipolar mind, bastard."

He knitted his brows. "You're really bad with insults."

She grit her teeth, closing her eyes. "Just, what were they talking about?" she said with a sigh. She didn't feel like dealing with him.

"No idea," Jack said softly, his gaze drifting to the sky. He did have an idea, actually, but it was too far-fetched to even consider. Besides, if his thoughts were right, then that would be horrible devastation for the fey.

"But you sounded like you knew," she said, rubbing at her temples.

"That was the only way to get any information out of them. They wouldn't have talked otherwise." His gaze went back to her, eyes hard. "Not like that did much. They basically repeated what you said."

"Yeah, I heard." She kicked at the snow, frustrated. This mystery was going to bother her for forever unless she figured it out. Time to get into detective mode.

How that would work, she had no idea.

Jack dug his toes into the snow, looking down at the ground. "Come on," he said. "I've had enough of the village."

Tooth simply nodded. Sure, she wanted to know where the hell they were now going. But frankly, she had a feeling he wouldn't tell her, and she was really sick of asking questions. She felt like that was all she'd been doing since New York. North always encouraged her to ask the questions clustering in her head, but he wasn't there. She'd be lucky if she ever saw him again.

God, she had to get out of this mess.

* * *

Back home, Toothiana's room was tiny, but cozy and homey. Her doorway was covered with hanging ivy, her bed was made of the softest flowers, her floor was lush grass, and cherry blossoms grew in one corner. Her furniture was made of gold and other dyed faerie metals, and right outside her room was a small pond with the most gorgeous teal water. All in all, her home felt like summer, smelled of flowers, and was extremely bright.

Why was she mentioning this?

Because Jack's home was the exact opposite of hers.

After the tavern, Jack led Tooth to where he lived. Since he was nomadic, she assumed he really didn't spend too much time there, but it was where he kept coming back to.

This "home" was in the middle of the woods. There was a small wooden house hidden amongst a cluster of trees right next to a little frozen lake. The house consisted of a single room with a wooden bed and a fireplace whose flames were replaced with icicles. It was run-down, uncomfortable, and reminded Tooth of old horror stories North used to tell her when she was younger.

Now she realized how Jack was able to stay in the sewers of New York. It wasn't like his preferred living conditions were all that great. They were far away from everyone, and it felt as if the house were going to collapse at any moment.

Tooth currently stood in the middle of the room, staring up at the rickety ceiling, these thoughts floating through her mind. She was slightly confused as to why she was there in the first place. It didn't make sense that Jack willingly took his enemy—or, as he called her, his "opponent"—back to his residence. Even though he planned to never let her go, it wasn't smart to risk it just in case she escaped.

And trust her, escaping was at the top of Tooth's agenda.

Jack was bustling around as she stood there, throwing his pack down on the ground and leaning his staff gingerly against the wall. He went over to his bed, lifted an unbelievably thin fur mattress, and put some rope from his bag underneath it. After he was done, he perched at the end of it, and looked at Tooth calculatingly. "What am I gonna do with you?" he sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair.

Tooth glanced at him. "I dunno. You could let me go," she said with a shrug. "Just a suggestion."

He rolled his eyes. "Not gonna happen."

"Worth a shot," she mumbled, sitting down on the cold floor. She played with her yellow flats, staring in dismay at the blood staining their bright color. Stupid black market shop.

Jack flopped backward on his bed, the sudden movement startling Tooth. It was rather ironic to her how much he looked like a human teenager just then, especially the way in which his legs dangled off the side. Because, in reality, he was far from a young human.

At that moment, she couldn't help but wonder what his story was. Here she was, sitting in his house, and she didn't even know if Jack Frost was his actual name. She doubted it; it was just too convenient.

Then again, she could see memories through people's teeth, and her shortened name _was _Tooth. But that was different. Somehow.

Okay, it was basically the same exact circumstance. But she was actually decent and trustworthy, unlike Jack.

Silence stretched between them for some time. Tooth quickly got bored of just looking at the icicle-place (as she now called it) and decided to pester Jack with some more questions. It wasn't the smartest idea, but she couldn't just sit there. It was driving her nuts.

"Why do you live out here?" she asked, bringing her knees to her chest.

Jack groaned from his bed. "That's really not your business."

"I think I'm entitled to it considering you kidnapped me," she said, determined to get this jerk to talk. "Since I can't go home, the least you could do is answer some of my questions."

"And _I _think my so-called 'debt' to you was paid when I stopped that dwarf from selling you into slavery," he responded coldly, sitting up. His eyes were like daggers as they bore into Tooth's.

Instead of backing down, however, she pushed him even further. "That's just what any decent faerie would do. It wasn't paying a debt."

Jack stood and went over to her. He forced her up roughly by the arm, putting his face uncomfortably close to hers. "I could've easily let him take you," he breathed. "It would've made my life a hell of a lot easier, so don't you dare take it for granted, princess."

"Would you stop with the 'princess' thing?!" she snapped, trying to rip her arm out of his grip, but to no avail. "It bothers the hell out of me."

He smiled cruelly. "Aww, does the poor Seelie not like being called names?"

"As a matter of fact, I don't. Just like _you _don't like talking about that damn ring of yours!" She was shouting now, her voice sounding grating even to her own ears.

Jack's eyes widened before her back was suddenly pressing painfully against the wall. She cried out in anguish, tears stinging her eyes as he forced her into the old wood. His face was beyond anger; there was an insanity to his gaze that scared Tooth senseless. "Don't talk about what you don't understand," he hissed, his cold breath blowing into her face.

She gulped, her vision blurry from her watery eyes. But she managed to keep her backbone. "I-It's just jewelry," she mocked, her voice weak from the strain it caused her. Her back throbbed with pain, her wings twitching from the shock of being slammed into the wall.

Jack's nostrils flared before he let his hands fall back to his sides. Tooth slumped, her legs buckling beneath her.

"You're not worth it," he said, his voice oddly quiet.

She wiped at her eyes, wanting to stop the tears before they froze in the cold. She didn't respond to him, just stared in curiosity. How many times could she set him off before he killed her?

Jack ran his hand through his hair again, turning away from her. His shoulders were tight, showing some kind of emotion Tooth had a hard time identifying. If it were anyone else, she'd say it was sorrow. But it couldn't be, not with him.

She stood up straight with support from the wall, not wanting to appear weak. "Y-You know," she started, her voice soft, "it's strange how colorless everything is here."

Jack growled with annoyance. "I _really _wish you would SHUT UP," he said harshly.

She didn't listen to him, but her intentions were much different this time. She would stick to things that wouldn't get them into another heated argument. It was time for her sassy side to be forced down. "In the Seelie Court, everything is so rich and full of color. The grass, the trees, the flowers." She moved a bit closer to him as she spoke. "But here, it's all white and blue and brown. It's like someone drained it. Yet it's still beautiful. Just in a different way."

He turned back around to face her, his expression still angry, but he remained quiet.

"Even though you forced me here," Tooth continued, putting just a hint of irritation into her voice, "I'm kind of glad for it. If only to see the landscape. It's a different world."

"Yeah, it is," Jack muttered, his body seeming to relax a bit.

"Have you ever been to my realm?" she asked cautiously, staring at him intently for any changes of attitude.

He shook his head, white hair flopping over his forehead. "We're not allowed to go into the different Courts, remember?"

She grinned. "Yeah, I just wanted to see if you'd actually be honest."

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "I've tried to, though. Never got past the yetis."

Tooth couldn't help but laugh at that, knowing full well about the yetis that guarded the Unseelie boarder. Lucky for her, North was actually really good friends with those hairy creatures. They weren't cruel, but they sure knew how to guard something. Unbeknownst to the Unseelies, the yetis were actually on the Seelie's side. North's bond with them was just that strong.

"I'm still not happy with you," Jack said, though his heart really wasn't in it anymore. Despite his better judgment, he liked hearing her laugh. It bothered him that he did, but that feeling was there.

"But you're not trying to kill me," she responded lightheartedly.

"For now." His tone was mischievous, showing her that her previous misdemeanor had pretty much blown over. Though she was amazed at how fast that happened, she knew she shouldn't be. She should be used to his mood swings by now, but they just threw her for a loop every damn time.

"You should sleep," he said suddenly, as if the thought just occurred to him. "You're still recovering."

Tooth wanted to say that he was wrong and she was perfectly fine, but her body said otherwise. They'd only been awake for a few hours, she knew that; however, her injuries were still healing, and sleep was the ticket to her freedom. So, instead of being stubborn, she simply nodded and curled herself on the floor. Her breath vaporized in front of her, and she shivered against the cold.

Jack sighed, pulled a fur blanket from beneath his bed, and threw it at her. "Can't have you waking up as a ghost."

Tooth looked at it for a moment, her heart swelling with appreciation. That was nice of him, offering this blanket.

Hold up, did she seriously just think that? She was more tired than she thought.

Of course, he just didn't want her to die. That was all.

"Thanks," she said quietly, wrapping the blanket tightly around her shivering body. After a few minutes, her shivers ceased, and her body was somewhat warm. Though these conditions weren't optimal, they were enough to allow her to fall into a fitful sleep.


	6. Into the Woods

**A/N: Hey, guys! Long time, no see.**

**First, I want to sincerely apologize for the super long wait. School and personal stuff have taken up all my time, and with finals coming up soon, I still won't have that much time to write. So, just so you don't think I'm MIA or have given up on the story, just assume my next update will take about a month. I'm so sorry, but I'll have way more time once Christmas break rolls around, which is December 10th for me.**

**Next, I want to address some reviews left by guests who I can't PM to respond to.**

**Guest 1: Thank you for your kind words! Sorry it took me two chapters to respond, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. C:**

**bloop: ****Thank you, and oh, you'll see what his motives are. Worry not.**

**KenzMM: ****Thanks for taking the time to review! It make me happy knowing that people like what I'm writing, and it gives me the motivation to continue. I hope you keep up with the story!**

**frostfairy: ****Thanks, love. C:**

**Bookworm4Ever: ****I'm glad you like them! Jack's a pain to write, but I tend to like the end results.**

**Guest 2: ****I am humbled by your compliment, I truly am. I glad you're enjoying it, and look! I finally updated!**

**Guest 3: ****You'll find out where Jack's ring is from in a few chapters, plus what's going on with his sister. I will address it, so keep reading to find out ;)**

**Again, I'm so sorry this took me forever. I hope it was worth the wait. Thank you guys so much for sticking with it!**

* * *

**_"It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who has seen the light. It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah." -Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah"_**

Jack didn't sleep.

Not only did he get very little rest on normal occasions, but he didn't want to let his guard down with the girl there. He wouldn't put it past her to slip out while he was sleeping in an attempt to escape, only to freeze to death in the middle of the woods. Though she wasn't strong, especially with her condition, she _was _feisty and dangerously headstrong. It made keeping her such an irksome task, but it had to be done.

It was just strange how she treated him. Those he came across either simply pretended he didn't exist or followed his word and didn't argue. She didn't. She ended up obeying him for the most part; but it wasn't without arguments, that's for sure.

He felt that if she were in a better condition, there was no way she would've stuck around this long. Not by any means.

Jack leaned his head against the wall, playing idly with his ring. The ring _she _gave to him. The ring that was almost lost forever because of damn redcaps. How did they even get it from him in the first place?

He'd have to be more careful from now on. He felt like he kept his guard up at all times, but apparently not enough. He'd lost his staff and had his ring stolen, two things that he could not part with.

This never used to happen. Ever. He'd always been a recluse, an outcast. And part of being that was guarding what he did have with his life. Yet in one week, his careful watch slipped up _twice._

Maybe being on his own all the time was somehow messing with him.

He pondered on that for a moment before shaking the thought out of his head. No. Loneliness used to creep up on him when all this first started, but that was hundreds of years ago. He's had enough time to adjust.

_Liar._

Jack shut his eyes, clenching his hands tightly into fists. He wasn't lying to himself.

_If you didn't care, then you wouldn't hold this grudge against Mimeron._

He grit his teeth, forcing the negative thoughts out of his mind. His grudge against the Seelie King was only because the bastard wouldn't listen to him since he was Unseelie. That was where the bitter hatred lay. Nowhere else.

Toothiana groaned in her sleep, causing him to flick his eyes to her. And making his mind shut up. That was one good thing about having something to keep you busy.

He stared at her intensely, partially to make sure she wasn't about to bolt, and partially because she was just so foreign. Even with her clothes covered, she was still ridiculously bright with her multi-colored hair and skin. It was just something he never saw in the Unseelie Realm. And it wasn't like he visited the human world all that often; it was too dangerous.

After she had settled down once more, Jack took to drawing random frost designs on the wall beside him. Most were abstract and didn't form any specific shapes, but some he morphed into actual things. Snowflakes here, wolves there, and even snow rabbits.

He did this for a while before getting bored. If only there were something he could do within this tiny house. But there wasn't, and he wasn't going to leave the girl alone in there. That would just be plain stupid.

He went back to playing with his ring, although that was more of an old habit than a conscious decision. He'd had the piece of jewelry since he was thirteen, which was extremely young for a faerie. Since then, he'd only taken it off when absolutely necessary. Not many things were precious to him, but this was.

It was the only remembrance of her.

Jack scrubbed at his eyes, biting down on his tongue. Why couldn't he just stop thinking about that? His thoughts just continued wandering, which really wasn't good for him. At all. There were demons within him that even he didn't want to encounter. It was easier to repress them.

But with Toothiana there, it was so much harder. Though his isolation drove him mad at times, he also wasn't used to being around other people or faeries or whatever. It was weird, and not in a good way.

Although she did make him feel something rather strange, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. So, instead of pondering on it until it drove him nuts, he decided to just deem it as irritation. That would make the most sense.

_You keep telling yourself that._

Oh, for all that is holy. . . .

In a rage, Jack held his staff between his hands, pointed it at the ceiling, and let loose a long line of ice. He did this so harshly that multiple layers formed very quickly, and wind rushed around the tiny room. That should teach his mind to behave itself.

"Wha—"

Jack jumped, sat up, and pointed his staff in front of him, alert for any threats.

Toothiana squeaked, holding up her hands. "Whoa, buddy, it's just me. Don't shoot your ice magic."

He relaxed at her words. God, he was on edge. "Sorry," he muttered, laying his staff down beside him.

"What freaked you out?' she murmured, yawning. "That was a lot of wind. . . ."

"Just bored," he replied nonchalantly, keeping his face void of all expression. She asked too many questions, and he wasn't going to tell her anything on his mind. She was just a nuisance, and all that is his personal business.

She looked at him dubiously, sitting up a bit higher. A slight wince was evident in her movements, telling Jack that for some unknown reason, her back still wasn't completely healed. Strange. It usually didn't take faeries this long to recover. . . .

"So . . . you just conjured up a wind storm due to . . . boredom?" Toothiana's lips quirked, a giggle trying to escape. Thankfully, she managed to keep it in.

That damn laugh. . . .

Jack scowled. "Yeah. Problem?"

She smiled knowingly, looking up at the ceiling. "Nope. None at all."

A strange sensation overcame him, one that was rather unfamiliar to him. He shook it off, though, as he stared intensely at the girl. Her gaze shifted back to him, whereupon seeing his stare it faltered. Red crept up her cheeks, and she looked swiftly away. It was painfully obvious how uncomfortable Jack made her feel.

Part of him thought of that as a positive, for she should know who had the authority there. Another part of him, though, thought quite differently.

But he was just going to ignore that.

After a few moments of silence, Toothiana spoke up. "Thanks again," she said quietly. "For the blanket."

"Yeah, having to deal with your corpse would've been very inconvenient," Jack replied. Of course, he was joking. He needed her alive, but the look on her face made him think that she wasn't quite sure if there were some truth to his words or not. Dammit, she was stupid at times. Had she not seen what he'd been doing for the past day? He could've left her for dead on so many occasions, it was disgusting.

"A simple 'you're welcome' would've worked," she grumbled, folding her arms across her chest.

"I'm a complicated man," he said with a grin. "I'm far above the trite and adequate."

Toothiana snorted. "Yeah, you're _so _complicated."

Though she was attempting to be sarcastic, Jack saw that she really wasn't into it. More likely than not, she actually thought he _was _complicated, and it drove her nuts.

Maybe he'd feel a bit bad about if she didn't always want to argue with him.

Jack simply smiled mischievously at her, trying to set her on edge. "Oh, I am. It's what makes you ask your questions."

She rolled her eyes. "That's called being _confusing, _not complicated."

He tutted. "Such denial."

She ignored him, not responding for a few moments. Then, she sat up a bit straighter and said, "So, you know the guys in the tavern yesterday? The ones you questioned?"

He nodded.

"Well . . . should we be worried about what they were talking about?" Her tone was soft, high-pitched, a bit frightened. She was already worrying over their words.

Jack furrowed his brows, deliberating on what to say. If they were talking about who he thought they were, then yes, they should be worried. But there was a chance that he was completely off base, and the one "raising an army" is some stick-in-the-mud hobo who posed no more threat than an average redcap.

"No," he responded, hoping to prevent a freak-out scene from her. "It can't be anything too malevolent, or else I would've heard more about it. It's fine."

Toothiana visibly relaxed, her shoulders sagging. "Okay. I was just curious."

Jack nodded again, bending down to pick up his staff. He wanted something to play with in his hands. He tossed it back and forth between his palms, staring at the frost coating the wood for just a second before disappearing again. Though he'd lived his life with his power, he still didn't understand how it worked. Sometimes, he could get on pretty fine without his staff. At other times, his powers didn't work at all if his staff were gone.

He just didn't get it.

He was also quite aware of Toothiana staring at him while he fiddled with his crook, but he was studiously ignoring her. He swore, that girl could wear holes in him just with her eyes. Granted, he was a handsome devil, but this was just ridiculous.

Perhaps she'd take the hint and not pester him for the rest of the day.

Tooth stared at Jack, her mind racing. He seemed really tense at the moment, and she was trying to figure out _why. _Though she hadn't known him for more than twenty-four hours, she was fairly certain that he wouldn't make a freaking wind-and-snow storm in the middle of the cabin just because he was bored. It didn't add up.

Then again, hadn't she been trying to figure him out this entire time? And hadn't she come to the conclusion that it was all a mind game he was playing? That should've calmed her down, made her stop wondering what exactly made this boy tick. But it didn't.

Though she knew it was complete bullshit, she felt like Jack wasn't as manipulative as she kept telling herself. Her emotions told her that his bipolar attitude came from something deeper than a simple means to an end, but logic dictated otherwise.

If she thought it would do anything, she'd ask him what's wrong. Then they could talk, she could get closer to her kidnapper, he'd possibly feel better, and then maybe he'd let her go home.

Tooth wasn't stupid, though. She was well aware that asking him about his emotions—or lack thereof—would only piss him off and potentially make her stay even longer.

Still, the silence between them was killing her. She couldn't just sit there on the floor all day without some kind of conversation. Even the bickering that usually occurred between them would be better than this sheer boredom.

Jack was still tossing his crook back and forth, and Tooth was still staring at him, though her eyes had kind of fogged over. It was like she saw him, but not really. You know how it is, that odd moment when you seem like you're staring at something, when you're really staring at nothing.

Tooth decided to break the suffocating silence. What to talk about, though? She should start with small talk, something neutral. Like the weather or something.

She flicked her eyes over to the icicle-place, not wanting to be staring at him while she spoke. "Hey, Jack?"

"What?" His tone was neutral, bored, though Tooth thought she heard a hint of irritation. Whatever. If the punk didn't want her there, he could easily let her go on her merry way.

"I have a question," she said, trying to stall for time. She still wasn't quite sure what to talk about.

"I figured as much." He turned to look at her, but her eyes were still glued to the icicles.

"It's just . . . we don't know much about each other, and since we're going to be spending a lot of time together. . . ." She shrugged, looking back at him. His eyes were narrowed with dubious curiosity. "I just want to know you a bit more," she continued, realizing that she was erratically rambling. "I mean, you've kidnapped me, but you've also saved my life. So . . . yeah," she finished lamely.

Jack raised a brow. "You _do _realize none of that was a question, right?"

A wave of irritation rolled through her. Of course. "I know, wise guy. I was getting around to it." That was a complete lie. She chewed on her lower lip, thinking of something that could start a nice and long conversation. If she were him, she'd be dying to talk to someone, being all alone out here. She would miss her friends, her family. . . .

Family. That was it! That seemed like a fairly neutral topic. Even if his family life were messed up, he could just shrug it off and she'd find something else to talk about. Easy.

"Do you have a family?" she asked finally.

Jack stiffened, his eyes hardening. He kept her gaze for another moment before looking away. The muscles on his jaw tightened. "Everyone does."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, Mr. Literal, but I was asking if you see them frequently or anything."

He seemed very interested at something on the ground, for he was scrutinizing the floor with a determination of one who really doesn't like the subject at hand. "It's complicated, and I don't want to discuss it," he said, voice harsh.

"Oh, don't give me that," she pushed. "It'll give me insight as to why you're a delinquent who enjoys imprisoning young girls."

His head snapped up. "First, I can _give you _whatever the fuck I want, _princess," _he hissed, emphasizing the nickname she hated so much. "Second, I never claimed to like 'imprisoning' you. I actually really hate it."

"Hey, we have something in common after all," she said bitterly, standing up. The blanket wrapped around her fell to her feet in folds. "I don't want to get into an argument. I mean, it's better than sitting in awkward silence, but still. Bickering isn't something I like to do. The only reason why I asked you that was because I thought it was a pretty neutral topic. Guess I was wrong."

Jack stood as well, his fist clenched tightly on his staff. "Yeah. You were."

"But, I want to know now. You don't have to give me details, just a slight overview."

He laughed. "I don't have to do anything for you," he said, pointing his staff at her. "I think you've forgotten who's in charge here."

"I haven't." Tooth rubbed her arms, a nervous habit. "I just think you should open up a bit. Could be good for you."

He shook his head in slight disbelief. "You aren't going to let this go, are you?"

"No."

"And you'll keep annoying the shit out of me until I tell you something?"

"Pretty much."

Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair. This made it even messier than it was before, which was saying something. "Fine."

Tooth blinked. Had she heard him wrong? She thought he'd said—

"I'll tell you some stuff about my family."

Nope, nope. She'd heard correctly.

It took all her strength to keep her mouth from falling open. He got so angry, but now he was willing? God, she must annoy him to no end if he actually submitted.

"Okay," Tooth said calmly. "So, what about your family?"

Jack shrugged, fingering his ring like he always did. "I had a mother and a father. They're both dead. I took their cabin after they were gone."

Tooth waited, expecting him to elaborate. When he remained silent, though, she scoffed. "That's it?"

"Yep."

"Okay, there's obviously a bunch of crap you're not telling me because no one would get that pissed off to just explain something so simple."

Jack stared at her through his white bangs. "You don't think the death of my parents could be a touchy subject?"

She really wanted to laugh out loud, but she managed to refrain herself. "Coming from you? No, I don't think you'd be too choked up about that."

"Maybe I was super close to my mother or something," Jack said, waving off her words. "But you're actually right. Unfortunately for you, that's all you're getting out of me."

Tooth narrowed her eyes. "I really hate you."

"The feeling's mutual."

She didn't even know what to do now. Jack was now pacing around the room, idly twirling his staff, and she could tell he was deep in thought. The jerk was such a mystery. It drove her nuts.

She was getting kind of antsy, just sitting in this tiny cabin. She wanted to walk, stretch out her legs. Strangely, her back didn't feel any better, but as long as she went slowly, she'd be okay.

"I'm gonna go walk around," she said, not wanting to ask for permission. It was way worse than when her parents were overprotective of her. At least she knew they did out of love, whereas Jack did it out of selfish caution.

"Just stay close by," he responded, still pacing.

This took Tooth by surprise, but she didn't dwell on it. Maybe he'd figured she really couldn't go anywhere. She'd get lost and freeze to death.

Kicking away the blanket at her feet, she said, "Gotcha," and moved toward the door. After it had fully swung open, she was greeted by gentle snow falling from the sky. Unlike last time, there was no violent wind, so it was very peaceful. The ground glinted with the faint sunlight coming through the clouds.

Judging from the color of the sky, and the dimness of the light, it was around twilight. Sunset had apparently started already, and she shook her head in utter exhaustion. Her sleeping schedule was completely messed up now. She was becoming nocturnal.

Her feet sunk deep into the snow as she walked, the coat keeping her plenty warm. The only part of her that was cold was her face, but she didn't mind. Though she wasn't used to it, it was a nice change from the continuous warmth in the Seelie Realm. Summer without winter felt bare, pointless. Everything needs a counterpart.

That's why Tooth never understood the constant fighting between the two Courts. Politically wise, at least. She completely got why no one trusted Unseelie faeries. Jack was proof of that.

But the actual realms, the seasons they watched over. Why did they always fight about whose was more important, which one should be dominant in the human realm? There had been random wars here and there because one of the Courts would want to overrule the other, make it a perpetual winter or a perpetual summer. These ended when Mimeron took the throne, and all uprisings seemed to take place within individual Courts. They learned to leave each other alone.

Which was good. The universe needed balance, and it wouldn't obtain it if either summer or winter were more powerful. They had to be equal.

Tooth let out a deep sigh, watching the air steam in front of her. She didn't understand why the Unseelie had to be so violent. If they weren't, then they could enter either court whenever they pleased. But the Unseelie tended to take advantage of the Summer fey when they were allowed to cross borders, so barriers were put into place. It was all very obnoxious, but she knew it was for their safety.

She kicked at the snow before looking at the cabin over her shoulder. She wanted to keep it in sight, just so she knew where she was. She didn't have to go far; she'd only wanted some fresh air. She had just as much to lose as Jack if she got lost. Dying was not on her agenda for the day, thank you.

Jack.

It was weird, how the thought of him made her stomach flutter. Though she was completely and totally repulsed with his morals and didn't understand his moods whatsoever, she couldn't deny that he made her heart beat just a little faster. Of course, ninety percent of the time was either because she was angry or frightened, but still. She couldn't deny that he was attractive.

Incredibly, frustratingly attractive.

It would be so much easier if he were some old, ugly creep, but he wasn't. Not by a long shot.

It would also be easier if there weren't that _something _that made her heart ache for him. It was almost like he was . . . sad. Like he had a hidden sadness deep within him, one that he hid with a façade of cruelty and utter annoyance. She kept telling herself that that was crap. He was simply an untrustworthy monster.

Then why had he saved her so many times? Why didn't he sell her? Why was he sometimes kind?

Questions and musings kept floating about her mind, causing her head to begin to ache. Tooth placed a palm against her forehead, closing her eyes as she momentarily ceased her walk. She had to stop thinking about him, analyzing him. She hated the guy, yet she couldn't help but have these thoughts surface to the front of her mind.

She'd always given people the benefit of the doubt, even when everyone else thought someone were the Devil incarnate. She sought the good in people, came to conclusions about them both from her interactions with them and from the memories she found in their teeth. Hatred wasn't in her nature; neither was distrust. It was hard for her to assume that someone was just bad or evil.

Unless they were Unseelie.

It was implanted into her brain to not trust them, yet here she was, wondering whether or not Jack was as bad as she originally made him out to be. He saved her life. But he was Unseelie and not exactly an example of model behavior. Yet it went against her nature to think poorly about anyone.

It was all very paradoxical.

Tooth giggled to herself due to the sheer ludicrousness of this situation. Here she was, questioning pretty much everything she thought of the Unseelie and of Jack, and she was almost positive that he was sitting in his little cabin, not giving a crap about her. Why should she spent so much time trying to figure someone out who thought of her as an object, a means to an end? Next time she was going to have a mental crisis over this, she just had to ask herself that question. Because, honestly, if he didn't care about her, then she shouldn't—_wouldn't—_care about him.

It also really bothered her that her heart was screaming at her to stop using cold logic, but it was how it was. It seemed to her that if Jack were as vindictive as he made himself seem, then he was beyond saving.

She pressed her palms harder onto her forehead before wearily rubbing her eyes. Another sigh escaped her, but she didn't get to enjoy it steaming in front of her this time. Her fingers kept massaging her eyes until little pinpricks of light swarmed beneath her eyelids. Finally, she dropped her hands, blinked a few times to get the light dots out of her vision, and continued on with her walk. She was just making a huge circle around the cabin, really, for the forest was too dense to walk into it.

She was just approaching the frozen lake when she heard it: A strange scratching followed by crunching snow.

She whipped around, looking for the source of the sound. Though she couldn't see anything, she continued to hear that scratching and crunching. The latter seemed to be speeding up, like quickened footsteps.

It sounded like they were coming from the cluster of trees, but the sun was almost completely set by now, and Tooth didn't know the woods well enough to investigate. Not only could she get lost, but there was a chance that whatever she was hearing was dangerous. She didn't want to risk it.

Tooth turned away from the lake, running back to the cabin. Her progress was slow due to the depth of the snow, and her back screamed in protest of the harsh movements. But she didn't care. She had to get back. She had to tell Jack.

Even if he didn't want to go and find the source of the noise, it would just make her feel better that he knew. He grew up in these woods—or she assumed he did—and should be well aware of how to handle an Unseelie monster. She just knew what to when danger arose in the Seelie Realm. This area was completely foreign to her, making her ignorant. And ignorance was dangerous.

At least she'd be safe inside the rickety, old cabin.

After a couple minutes of extremely painful, ungraceful running, she ran through the doorway, nearly colliding with Jack in her rush.

"Whoa," he said while she slammed the door shut, her hands shaking. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I . . . h-heard something . . . in the woods," Tooth panted. Running through snow was _hard._

Jack furrowed his brows. "Did it sound dangerous or something?"

"Yeah, or something." She straightened a bit, clutching her side. "It made . . . a scratching noise, and it . . . sounded like it was moving . . . through the snow."

Jack frowned. He gently moved her over so he could look out the window by the door. There was barely any sunlight now, and the direction at which he was peering was the darker side. He squinted, trying to see if he could find any discernable shapes or figures. Tooth looked on nervously, twirling a strand of her long hair between her fingers.

Jack turned away from the window, shaking his head. "I don't see any—"

He was cut off by a loud _thump_ that came from the woods. A few seconds later, snow crunching was heard right outside the cabin, coupled with _thunks. _It sounded like someone was having a fist fight.

Tooth was very concerned, not knowing what to do or what was going on. "Should we go see what—"

This time, she was cut off my Jack placing his hand over her mouth. "_Quiet," _he hissed in a harsh whisper. "_Whatever it is, they don't know we're in here."_

Tooth nodded slowly, her eyes wide. Jack removed his hand and quietly went to his bed, listening for anymore noises. The crunching continued, and there was finally a slight _shink. _After that, all was completely silent, save for Tooth's heartbeat pounding in her ears.

They waited for a moment before they felt that it was safe to move and talk again. Jack grabbed his staff immediately, staring hard at Tooth. "I'm going outside, see if it's gone," he said.

She figured as much, but she didn't want to wait inside while he investigated. Sure, she was scared as hell, but she was also curious. Besides, she was fairly certain that the danger was gone. "I'm going with you."

Jack sighed, but waved his hand in submission. "Yeah, fine. As long as you stay out of the way."

"Sure thing."

He went through the door, Tooth close at his heels. The sun was completely set now, the moonbeams reflecting off the iridescent snow. Even with it being night, and the moon just beginning to rise, it was still rather bright in areas with fewer trees. The snow made everything have a pink tinge, and it was like walking around at dusk again. It was a perpetual twilight.

One thing's for certain. There was never anything like _this _back at Tooth's home. It gave the old cabin and cold woods a distinct ethereal beauty. It was breathtaking, and Tooth would've been entranced by this in a different situation.

But she wasn't in a different situation, so the beauty of the shimmering blanket beneath their feet was pushed to the back of her mind. She was idly aware of it, but she didn't actively think upon it. She could be walking into something extremely dangerous, and the last thing she wanted was to be distracted by pretty snow.

They walked slowly to the back of the cabin, the snow crunching beneath Tooth's boot-clad feet and Jack's bare toes. He held his staff in front of him with both hands, his back a bit hunched and his eyes squinted in concentration. His focus was completely absorbed on the matter at hand.

Tooth's heart picked up speed the longer it took them to circle the small area. It nearly went into overdrive when they reached the corner, for she couldn't see what awaited them on the other side. The anxiety before entering the unknown was sometimes worse than what actually lay within it.

Jack glanced at her briefly before rounding the corner, his blue eyes telling her to stay back. By the time she nodded her understanding, he had already turned back around and went to the other side of the cabin. Tooth took in a shuddering breath of cold air. Here goes nothing.

She rounded the corner, making sure her body was still pretty much behind Jack's, but just enough to the side that she could see what was in the snow.

And it took her by surprise.

What lay before her wasn't a monster. It wasn't even something that looked threatening.

It was a young boy, his back pressing into the cold snow, his face turned upward. He held a dagger-tipped staff in his right hand. It was lying atop his chest, moving rapidly due to his short intakes of breath. His eyes were wide and green. The tips of his pointed ears were buried in the snow, and his entire body emitted a faint, flickering, blue-tinted white light.

This isn't what caused Tooth's eyes to widen and her hand to shoot up, silencing the gasp that escaped her mouth.

There were holes here and there in the snow, probably footprints, some deeper than others. The snow around the boy was very dark, violently contrasting with the pure white.

And covering the young, luminescent boy was large quantities of metallic, crimson blood.


End file.
